5/30/08 Friday Afternoon
Well, things did not go well this morning. Judy was so sick that we were 1/2 hour late starting out. When we got to the clinic she had a fever, so they said no chemo today.

We did learn that Judy's cancer is in stage 4, meaning that there is no cure. (By definition, stage 4 breast cancer is when the cancer spreads beyond the breast and associated lymph nodes.) The good news is that she has been in stage 4 since her hip cancer 11 years ago and she could yet live for years and years to come. No cure means that if something else doesn't kill her first, that the breast cancer will eventually kill her.

When they did the labs this morning they discovered that she has an elevated white cell count and abnormal liver enzyme test results. One possibility is that she has a touch of the flu, another is that she has developed an infection from the bile duct stint site, the portacath, the pancrease or the kidneys. They decided to admit her to the hospital for additional tests and to put her on antibiotics for a couple of days. They hope to be able to give her chemo before she is released.

A little later on our oncologist's partner came in and said he thought that the bile duct stint might have moved or closed off, so he has ordered more tests and feels that they might have to redo the stint. To early to tell, though. So it is another round of wait and see how the tests go and how she responds to the antibiotics.