Change of Plans

If I’ve learned one thing from having PSC, it’s that plans can change in an instant – whether it be treatment plans or weekend plans. Especially when you’re a rarity and pregnant with a stent placement.

I ended up consulting with the liver specialists at Rochester Mayo this past week. The appointment started off by updating them on the last year and half of my PSC journey and focusing in particular on the course of treatment and fevers during my pregnancy.

The Mayo doctors don’t typically recommend continuous repeat stenting more than a couple times in PSC patients, and thinks the fevers may be caused by my body trying to reject the stent – but of course there is no way of knowing. Since my situation is unique and they haven’t seen a similar patient, my care provider consulted with a team of specialists to put forth a plan while we waited.

After the specialists reviewed my previous scans and bloodwork there was some concern that the affected bile duct may not be as stretchable as it should and want to run some tests on the duct tissue. We scheduled another ERCP at Mayo for this week to try to dilate/stretch the duct and not place another stent if possible.

I ended up coming down with a brief fever on Thursday night but it quickly subsided and I felt much better after some sleep. We then headed to my family’s cabin to celebrate the holiday weekend and relax after a hectic week.

I started to experience some upper abdomen discomfort and another fever Saturday afternoon so we decided to head to the Mayo ER as my doctors recommended.  Fortunately, my stomach discomfort went away during the car ride after eating some crackers and my fever faded after taking my antibiotics.  By the time we reached the ER I was feeling much better, but was still experiencing some twinging behind my right rib cage.

The doctors ordered the usual workup for my fevers to see what was going on – bloodwork, ultrasound, and urine analysis. Being that it’s a holiday weekend, the ER was swamped and it took quite a while to get all of this coordinated and test results back.  After waiting a total of six hours, we finally chatted with the doctor and everything came back normal and as usual he couldn’t figure out what caused the fever.  Since I no longer had a fever or discomfort, they decided it was best to send me on my way and have me come back if things worsened.

In the meantime, I’m to continue taking my antibiotics and take Tylenol for any fevers that happen before my procedure on Wednesday. We decided to lay low for the rest of the weekend near Rochester in case anything else pops up.

We will continue to go with the flow and adjust our plans as needed to keep myself and this baby safe.

Thanks for joining me on this journey.

~Liver Life to the Fullest

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