Brody in the ICU Tonight

Well,  it's been awhile since our last post.   The no news is good news was holding true.   We have bee enjoying a wonderful,  fun-filled summer and Brody has been feeling great.  

This morning though Brody came into the hospital for his usual weekly chemo and was feeling great just like usual.    He always has labs done first before chemo to check if his body is ready or not first.   Today's results were a great big,  "Not Ready. "  Brody has been off his cyclophosphamide (chemo) he normally takes at home each day for a week.   His white counts were too low last week so the cyclophosphamide was held this past week in hopes that today he would be ready for his other chemo he receives each week at the hospital.   Well,  his white counts are back up but now his kidney is in trouble (Brody only has one kidney... his left was removed during surgery in March while also removing much of his abdominal tumor).   Brody's serum creatnine was 2.68 this morning (this is very high and huge increase in a week... he was at 0.57 last week).   His potassium was also too high (was 5.7 this morning and then 6.4 this afternoon).   This is scary high and too much potassium can cause your heart to stop.   Brody was moved to the ICU after the lab of 6.4 came back.   He was given oral medication at first to try to bring the potassium level down.  Brody was having a hard time drinking all of this medication though and ended having to get an NG tube today to get the medication in him.   He's had horrendous diarrhea since starting this medication.   This evening he was started on IV sodium bicarb,  insulin and glucose to try to further bring down his potassium level.   Fortunately this seems to be working.   His potassium level is finally coming back down (I was just told it's now 4.8 which is normal).  

Brody had an ultrasound and a CT scan today after his bad morning labs.   The ultrasound showed he has more fluid around the kidney than previously.   The CT scan showed there is an area it appears that his tumor may be growing again (around his colon).   This growth appears to be just enough that Brody's urterer is again occluded by his tumor (causing the fluid accumulation,  high potassium,  high serum creatnine,  and kidney damage).  

Brody is being monitored in the ICU tonight and receiving more meds to keep his potassium levels in check.   In the morning he will have surgery to place an external nephrostomy tube again.   We are not sure how long Brody will have this tube.   Brody is of course upset about this since it means he can't swim and play in the water anymore nor take a regular bath or shower again.   He has greatly enjoyed being able to do these things this summer. We had a rafting trip planned for next week in West Virginia then in Tennessee on Cherokee Lake to go tubing and fishing.   He was really looking forward to this trip and is quite disappointed we can't do it now.  

It's possible Brody might get to convert to internal stent instead later on.   First we have to do the external one and wait to see if the kidney heals up enough that he can tolerate chemo again.   Then he will get back on chemo again and hopefully the tumor stops growing.   He will have to get another CT scan to see if the tumor has regressed or at least not gotten even bigger and then the conversation could start as to whether there is possibility of internal stent working. 

His doctor is not yet thinking his chemo has stopped working.   The tumor did not get much bigger and he has been off chemo from low counts recently.   Also sometimes we get a CT scan and the tumor gets a little bigger then the next time a little smaller and then a little bigger.   His tumor has responded this way several times over the past year.   So anyhow I am trying to remain optimistic this is the case this time too.  But I most admit any increase in size of tumor freaks me out!   Scary!!!   And,  unfortunately this small change in size has made a big impact on the health of Brody's kidney and decreasing his quality of life.   I am greatly relieved his potassium levels have come down this evening and I am really hoping his kidney heals/recovers soon after getting his much needed external nephrostomy tube tomorrow.  

Please keep Brody in your prayers.