Follow Up Doc's Appointment Today...Good News!

Jo had blood test done this morning for her liver function. Following this was doc's appointment at 11am @ NUH. I was really thanking God that Jo could walk a little better and that she didn't require use of the wheelchair.


In the Doctor's Chambers...
Dr Goh was all smiles as we entered his room and Jo started ranting away on all that
had happened during the procedure along with the many grouses she's had with the side-effects of liver pain, fever, aches and so forth. Dr Goh was still all smiles and countered saying that he was very happy importantly that Jo "survived" the ordeal very well. We were also quite comforted to hear that it was very very normal for post op patients to not walk properly simply because of the radiation and pain caused by the destroyed and dying tumour.

Dr Goh said that these were all positive side effects very normal to IRT patients.


The Blood Test Verdict
As Dr Goh pointed us to some numbers on his LCD monitor, he was interpreting the results with a big smile...that must be good I thought to myself... He was comparing the figures from those of pre-op and today's test and said that the rate of dying cells was significantly lower - meaning that the cells are starting to regenerate again. Also, Jo's liver function is quite normal with nothing abnormal noticed. Hooray!


Her Appetite
Doc did point to one particular result and said that her protein level had gone down or something and therefore needed to eat as much of this as possible. In short she needs to eat more meat...well she's been eating mainly noodles the last 2 weeks because she's not had the appetite for "solids". She didn't like Ensure or Prosure caused it tasted too milky. Not forgetting that Jo's liver function at this point is about 30%, mainly relying on the left lobe...whatever she eats takes a loooooooong time to digest.


The Pain Explained
The diagram on the left illustrates where our liver is located in respect to the rest of the human body. You'll notice that it's positioned within the right rib cage and right below the lungs/diaphragm area. Because of Jo's large tumour measuring some 11x10cm, it weighs down her entire liver which indirectly pulls upon the diaphragm muscle. This causes pain for her whenever she laughs too hard, coughs, sneezes or when she blows her nose. She cannot lie on her right side as it's tender and has to be careful not to jerk or move suddenly whenever she walks.

So we left Dr Goh feeling very happy, knowing that God had spoken to us at the end of the day. He'd wanted us to be reassured that all that has happened post op is normal and not extraordinary... phew...

Next appointment will be on Wed, 3 January 2007. A CT scan will be conducted subsequently to evaluate progress of the treatment.