Monday, June 15, 2009

Today, we should learn the plan for Tommy's surgery from Dr. Caruso's office. He is aiming for Friday, and his office is in touch with Tommy's neurologist, Dr. Peet, to make sure it's okay to stop Tommy's daily aspirin beginning this morning (so that his blood will not be so thin during the procedure). The diagnosis for Tommy's condition is Bile-duct obstruction; specifically, a stone about 1 cm. in diameter is blocking the common bile duct, which--among other problems--could result in damage to the pancreas if not taken care of quickly. The technical name for the procedure, which the health-care folks call ERCP for short, is Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography. After Tommy is anesthetized, Dr. Caruso will thread a flexible tube (an endoscope) into his digestive tract to where the common bile duct enters into the upper portion of the small intestine (the duodenum). There will be a cutting device attached to the tube. Dr. Caruso will insert the tube through the entrance of the bile duct, and enlarge the entrance to permit passage of the obstructing stone.
Tommy is unusually tired these days, and I'm sure it's because of the bile-duct obstruction; I am so eager for this surgery to get done so he can get back in the groove. I just hope that's the only problem in that part of his body and that there are no complications. He also has lost his appetite (very rare for him), which is another symptom of the obstruction, so I am trying all the time to get him to eat. I'll just be glad when all this is behind us!
On a brighter note, Tommy did some pedaling yesterday (he hasn't had enough energy to do any walking for several days now), and then in the evening, which was gorgeous, we sat on the couch on the back porch. I put his feet up on the foot-rest, and I stood at the other end of the porch, and we played catch for at least a half-hour with the big orange ball--Tommy was awake and a pretty good aim the whole time, and the dogs kept trying to horn in on the game which made us laugh. So that was a pleasant rebound on Tommy's part.