My DW has had abdominal pain and been fatigued lately, and over the past 3 weeks has had increased bloating in her abdomen, which has contributed to her pain and reversed much of the progress on resuming normal eating after her bowel obstruction in January and subsequent surgery in February. We had an appointment with her symptom management nurse, who did an exam, and decided that she should be admitted to the hospital for testing, to understand its cause and hopefully treat it.
At the hospital she got blood tests, imaging, and medication to help her feel better. When we got the results, the CT scan showed significant disease progression, and metastasis into new areas. It also showed pleural effusion and ascites. She had thoracentesis, where they drained 1.5L of fluid from her chest, and at least that has helped with her shortness of breath. We met with the oncology team, and they had some ideas for treatment. However her AST/ALT are too high (~700/1000) for them to do it just yet. They thought this might be caused by tumor partially blocking a blood vessel in the liver but this has been ruled out by ultrasound testing. If it had been that, at least they could have put in a stent to open the blood flow and prevent further liver injury. Instead, they initiated a course of acetylcysteine, but I wonder if this is just a shot in the dark or whether it will do anything.
One sad thing is that she has not been well enough to have chemo since January, which is what got us to this point, and it's looking to me that it's doubtful that she will get there. Anyone have any words of wisdom on what is going on and where this might be going?