Stepping lively!

Today, of all days, the doctor was running close to on time. And, for the first time ever I showed up a bit late. Notwithstanding that, I managed to find Mary in the warren of examination rooms (Aisle D, Room 2) while the doc was still talking to her.

To control the bloat, he has put her on low level dosage of the two diuretics she has been taking to minimize the problem. During this last cycle, she gained about 7 lbs of fluids in six days and then they put her back on the diuretics to take her down again over the next 10 days. It is very uncomfortable for Mary and there is no reason to go through that cycle so he wrote scripts to cut the dose in half and use it as a preventative.

Mary told him she had the PET/CT scan yesterday so he stepped out to review the PET/CT scan and talk to the radiologist. This isn't the final verdict, but it would seem that the preponderance of results (x-ray, MRI, bone scan & combined PET/CT scan) are pointing to a compressive fracture in a vertebrae as the source of her pain rather than a cancer/tumor. We will hear the final word next Thursday but the immediate reaction is relief! For sure! You betcha! Its a heck of a deal!

At least, that's our opinion until we learn about all the problems associated with compressive fractures of the vertebrae and all the nasties that might be attached to that diagnosis.

Finally, the transdermal patch of fentanyl is working wonderfully. Mary's stomach is pretty good, overall now. And, the back pain is pretty much not there at all. A great place to be. The surgeon's nurse was a bit surprised to learn Mary was on the adolescent dose and that is was so effective for her pain. Oh yeah, narcotics hit our girl very, very hard.