Breath easy

We saw the hepatologist about noon today.

All the tests: blood, ct scan, ultrasound, more blood, even more blood, etc. all came back nominal. No problems of any import.

The theory is the same. Her liver's capacity was reduced by the radiation and now that the radiation has stopped, her liver is regenerating. But, it is too small to process all of her bodily fluids. When that happens, it simply bypasses the fluids into the abdominal cavity--hence the bloating. (Think of a spillway on a power producing damn. When there is too much fluid, it flows over the spillway instead of the power generating system.)

Data point: The official Stanford scale showed her up 1 lb from last week instead of the 5 and 5 from the two prior weeks. Part of that is the diuretics, part is the liver catching up with the body's needs.

So, now she is on a low sodium diet (and weekly blood tests for electrolyte balance) and was asked to add Boost to her diet. Her albumin is low indicative of too little protein in her food intake. Heck, I think she has too little food intake of any kind but her appetite is increasing.

Smile, breath, she continues to heal.