I'm writing this from the waiting area at the hospital...
When the "interventional radiologist" came in to talk with us before Lisa's procedure, he told us that there was a change of plan. After looking at Lisa's scans in detail, he believes that her port needs to be removed, and that she wouldn't benefit substantially from a stent in her superior vena cava (SVC). He is going to confirm that with a venogram which will allow him to watch her blood flow in real time via dye and real time xray. Since there are clots around the port's tube (catheter) that goes into her vein, removing it should take care of the swelling in Lisa's arm and chest. Unfortunately, it will not help with her leg swelling, and probably will not help with the cause of the pain she had on Saturday unless it was due to swelling against a nerve bundle. Lisa was very disappointed, since she was hoping for more substantial and widespread relief of some of these symptoms.
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The doctor just came out and talked with me. Lisa's procedure went well. Flow through Lisa's SVC was adequate so no stent was required. Flow through the major artery that Lisa's port catheter was in showed much better flow after it was removed, so she should experience a lot less swelling in her upper right side, especially her arm.
What the doctor confirmed was that the tumor mass is pressing on Lisa's heart, which is why her heart rate is so elevated all the time (120-140 beats per minute even while resting). But he also told us something new, which is that the tumor is compressing the inferior vena cava (major vessel at the bottom of the heart), and that's why Lisa has swelling in her legs. Unfortunately, this is not something that's treatable with intervention (stent) in the area that Lisa has the issue, because the stent would have to extend into the heart itself which is too dangerous. This should be relieved if the cancer continues to respond to the current chemo, not just as "stable" as it is now (no growth), but if the cancer shrinks as it did with the previous successful chemo mix while it was still working.
When the "interventional radiologist" came in to talk with us before Lisa's procedure, he told us that there was a change of plan. After looking at Lisa's scans in detail, he believes that her port needs to be removed, and that she wouldn't benefit substantially from a stent in her superior vena cava (SVC). He is going to confirm that with a venogram which will allow him to watch her blood flow in real time via dye and real time xray. Since there are clots around the port's tube (catheter) that goes into her vein, removing it should take care of the swelling in Lisa's arm and chest. Unfortunately, it will not help with her leg swelling, and probably will not help with the cause of the pain she had on Saturday unless it was due to swelling against a nerve bundle. Lisa was very disappointed, since she was hoping for more substantial and widespread relief of some of these symptoms.
= = = = = = = = =
The doctor just came out and talked with me. Lisa's procedure went well. Flow through Lisa's SVC was adequate so no stent was required. Flow through the major artery that Lisa's port catheter was in showed much better flow after it was removed, so she should experience a lot less swelling in her upper right side, especially her arm.
What the doctor confirmed was that the tumor mass is pressing on Lisa's heart, which is why her heart rate is so elevated all the time (120-140 beats per minute even while resting). But he also told us something new, which is that the tumor is compressing the inferior vena cava (major vessel at the bottom of the heart), and that's why Lisa has swelling in her legs. Unfortunately, this is not something that's treatable with intervention (stent) in the area that Lisa has the issue, because the stent would have to extend into the heart itself which is too dangerous. This should be relieved if the cancer continues to respond to the current chemo, not just as "stable" as it is now (no growth), but if the cancer shrinks as it did with the previous successful chemo mix while it was still working.
