Medical Update Bridget Sievers January 2021

Happy New Year, Gigi Journey Woman and Journeymen!

It would be a lie to say that I was not happy to see 2020 GONE! Let's all work to have a peaceful, healthy and prosperous 2021. I know all of us in the Sievers/Waltz sphere are hopeful as we continue a new year of healing for our Gigi.

So here is the latest update. She still has ascites and once a week Gigi is going into Central DuPage for Paracentesis (or as we called it "getting drained") where they will drain from 1.5-2 liters each time. It is mandated that 2 days before she gets a COVID test so she goes weekly. Thankfully the wait time hasn't been as long. It usually takes 30 minutes.

After her 2nd PRRT treatment she experienced a lot of pain in her back and was also getting muscle spasms. It was so painful she was fearful of doing a 3rd treatment. Her oncologist said it was unrelated to the treatment and that he still wanted her to move forward with the 3rd. We are not exactly sure what caused the back pain, but just as quickly as it came it diminished. She has been able to have some normalcy back in her life. She had to use a walker and a cane for a while. The back pain was making it hard for her to do anything. Now she is back to cooking! This is a huge deal as it helps lift the spirits.

Gigi had another Pet Scan just before NYE. The oncologist told us that we should not have high expectations, as this is a different procedure than traditional Chemo and radiation and you don't see results as quickly. But considering her discomfort with a liver that is 2.5-3 times its normal size, we held out hope for diminished tumors and liver shrinkage. Her PET scan showed no change from June. The oncologist said it looked exactly the same. Of course she was disappointed hoping to see some early signs of necrosis. The positive news is that it didn't grow or spread. She remains stable.

She has a very high tumor load likely over 80%. It's really hard to determine because she has several small lesions diffuse throughout her liver. Despite this, she has normal liver function which the oncologist astounded and pleased with. Trust me, our Gigi works hard at living and promoting healthy a lifestyle (along with a bit of kidding from the family how anal she can be) and it has definitely contributed to a greater quality of life during this health challenge.

Lastly, Gigi will get her 4th and last PRRT treatment on January 25th. In the US, the FDA only approved 4 rounds of PRRT. In other countries you can do more. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers as she will be alone again with no visitors for 3-5 days due to COVID. She will have another PET scan 1.5 months post treatment and 4 months post treatment. Although she may forgo the earlier scan to give the treatment more time to do it's thing. We will have a better idea of next steps in the spring. The hope is to get a living donor liver transplant, but she has to get 30% shrinkage to be considered a candidate. Her oncologist is advocating for her, but it is ultimately up to the transplant team.

So there you are on the latest. Bridget recently posted about her pneumonia experience a year ago. You can find the post here https://www.holisticbliss.co/the-hardest-year-of-my-life/ I will also be posting shortly on the event 1from a father's perspective. So stay tuned. Thanks for your love and support, it makes the journey so much more doable.

Ron