30 Nov - Stent Replacement Went Well

Sarah had her bile duct stent replaced today and it went well. Her bilirubin was at 7.1 before the procedure (normal is below 1 and must be below 3 to get chemo). The doc said the old stent was definitely 100% clogged and he was able to put a new permanent metal stent in that should not clog and is about 3 times as wide. Sarah came through it fine although she's dealing with some post-anesthesia nausea tonight. Over the next few days her yellow coloring should fade away and by next week we hope her bilirubin will be back in range so she can restart her chemo treatments. On the not-so-good side, the doc did notice that the upper ducts were much smaller than earlier this year, presumably because of outside pressure from liver tumors, which are also are putting pressure on her stomach and small intestine. Looks like Sarah's liver mets have progressed, which we knew might be the case since she's only been able to get chemo on and off due to a string of other issues - C.Diff. neuropathy, colds/infections, etc. We plan to discuss this with her oncologist and ask what our best options are for chemo treatment. At least for now we are fairly confident that her critical bile duct issue is resolved and she can feel better soon as we head into the Christmas season.