what to expect

[Guest guest]

Hi,

I have been unsubscribed for awhile and just signed back on. I was naively

thinking maybe things would work out after all.

Oh well....you know what they say about " The Nile " !

Anyhow, my husband, , has cirrhosis from Hep C (untreated) as well as colon

cancer that has metasticised to his liver (inoperable because of danger of

bleeding from varices as well as platelet count, as well as the number of tumors

and placement)...what a great combination! There are multiple tumors 5 that

measure more than 1.5cm x 1.8 cm, one of them is 3.2 cm x 2.8 cm. They are in

differenct segmants of the liver and there are multiple small places that aren't

large enough to measure yet. There is involvement with one lymph node now and

one met that has attached to the muscle wall of the peritoneum.

If any of you are familiar with CEA levels, his last month was 1,200...more than

doubling every month now...which I think is a pretty good sign of rapid tumor

growth. I need to check and make sure. When he had his surgery 3 + years ago, it

was normal (<3).

Until recently he hasn't had many liver failure signs. No ascites, edema only

once or twice 2 years ago, a week in the hopsital last year about this time of

year when his encephalopathy was pretty extreme and ended up with severe

excrutiating abdomenal pain, that they could not find a reason for.

He has multiple varices in the peritonem and esophagus but has had no bleeding,

interally or externally.

To start with (3 years ago) his liver enxymes were elevated, except for the

billirubin whch was normal. Now all the enxyme tests are back to normal but he

is becoming more symptomatic. I understand that for some people as the disease

progresses the liver pretty much says, " okay, I give up! " and stops spilling all

those enxymes into the blood...not a good medical explanation I know, but makes

sense in my feeble brain.

Anyhow, his latest CT scan show mild acsites in one part of the peritoneum, (the

first time that has ever shown up), and I noticed recently that his urine has

become darker, very consistent with cirrhosis. (that reddish brown color)

I noticed some confusion yesterday, and it is much more pronounced today.

He has been having pain in the area of his liver for almost w week now. His

doctor has changed his pain meds from Lortab to Dilaudid 2 mg every 4 hours as

needed, and Darvon when the pain is more moderate. This was by my request to

give him something stronger for pain.

My question, which I know can't be answered with any precision, is how fast do

you think this is progressing?

Am I looking at months or weeks?

He is coughing a lot from this bug that he caught. The rest of us had was seemed

to be a pesky cold, but he was bedridden for about a week from it) he had

chills, fever, etc

I don't know if i twas from the virus or his disease?

What is the danger of his coughing causing a blled from a varices?

Any input is appreciated!

C