Today started out a little rough....Jeff's blood sugar was at 32 when I arrived to the hospital at 6:00 a.m. They increased his IV to 10% Dextrose to see if that helped but by 6:30 a.m. his blood sugar was 27...he was sweating, confused and had double vision. They were able to give him 50% glucose in his IV and that helped bring him back around.
Dr. Pingpank and his fellow, Dr. Drennan, were in this morning. Jeff has signed his consent to participate in the study and have the procedure done today. We had a very long discussion with Dr. Pingpank last night and learned that the primary concern right now is the liver because there are so many tumors. They also believe that the tumors on the liver are also producing/secreting uncontrolled insulin just like the tumors in the pancreas but because there are so many of them it is reeking havic on Jeff's blood sugar. If left untreated, the liver could eventually fail but it is important to know that his liver function tests are still in the normal range right now (good news). This procedure should help with the tumors on the liver and then they can focus on the pancreas.
Last night we also learned that there are very few options for the liver tumors right now, and this is the primary treatment. If this doesn't work, they may refer us to the Pittsburg for a "microsphere" chemo treatment. Dr. Pingpank explained that through the procedure we are having today, they can give higher doses of chemo than if treated the normal way (meds or IV) and that this method does less damage to the rest of the body because of how they filter out the toxins in the blood during the procedure.
They do not expect to Jeff to have any nasea or hair loss from the chemo, however, he will spend some time in the ICU after his procedure. Mainly because of the catheters they will be putting into the veins in his legs and neck. He should be moved back to the 3NW (Adult Oncology) unit tomorrow and discharged on Friday if all goes well.
Dr. Pingpank expects to give today's treatment and then have Jeff back for follow up tests and a second procedure in four weeks. He said that we could expect to have four treatments and that two of the patients that they have treated with neuroendocine tumors (but not insulinoma) have had complete response from this treatment. That's encouraging news!
To date, Dr. Pingpank has treated over 50 patients with this new method and already proven chemo agent and given between 150-200 of these types of treatment with promising results.
The staff here at NIH have been absolutely wonderful. I did not realize what a large healthcare facility this was and how important their research studies were. Yesterday the Social Worker arranged for me to stay at the at the Safar Lodge while Jeff is hospitalized and it's on campus and is within walking distance of the hospital (literally across the street). There is a cafe in the lobby that serves latte's (not Starbucks but close enough) as well as a cafeteria that is open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Jeff has a tv and computer with the Internet and he's already logged into work for a few minutes.
Well folks...Jeff should be going downstairs for his procedure soon. I'll add another post as soon as he's out of the procedure and comfortable in the ICU. Please keep us in your prayers!
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