Bile Duct Procedure

Drew has been jaundice lately and his billirubin bloodwork counts have been high so his oncologist ordered a CT/MRI last week. The CT showed that his bile ducts are obstructed causing the jaundice and it was also the source to his blood infection that landed him in the hospital about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday a radiologist interventionist went in and tried to get the bile flowing properly in order to put a stent in to help the drainage. The good news is that he was able to do so, the bad news is that it wasn't the scenario we were hoping for.

In a normal person, the doctor could go through your mouth in order to put a tube in to get the bile to flow and then a stent. At Drew's surgery in PA, the doc had to redo his whole digestive system so for this procedure they had to go through his side using a guided X-ray and ultrasound machine. The doc went through one side with a tube and ran into an obstruction in his bile duct so he couldn't get all the way through. They need to get a tube from his bile duct in his liver all the way through to the bowel in order for it to drain properly. So they went in through the other side, luckily they were successful on the other side. Right now Drew has 2 tubes coming out of his sides which connect to bags in order to drain the bile. This should clear up his jaundice and hopefully make him feel better. He will have theses tubes in for about 2 weeks to drain and then go back for another look. Our hope is that the next time the doc can get through on the other side as well because the bile duct is shaped like a Y and in order for Drew to have a stent and drain internally the tube has to get through the Y, through the duct and down to the bowel. If the doc cannot get through the other side Drew will have the tubes in possibly forever.

Drew came out of the procedure in a good amount of discomfort. He is very achy and each time he moves he feels as if the tube is stabbing him in the side. He had to spend the night in the hospital last night and hopefully will come home today.
So we aren't thrilled with the outcome but the good news is the doc was able to do the procedure at all, we would have much bigger problems if he could not get through on any level. The other positive note from this procedure is that the doc does not believe the obstruction to be cancer, he can't prove it, but he thinks it could be scar tissue from the surgery or possibly the surgery caused damage to the bile ducts. That was the best news we heard all day!

We are still waiting for Drew to start chemo. He has had so many setbacks it just hasn't been possible. Hopefully he can start treatment in the next few weeks and we are still looking at some clinical trials.