good news and bad news

matt has been finding it very difficult to rally following the termination of radiation. we had both both hoped that after the stoppage of treatments, the pain in his stomach would quickly fade. but that hasn't happened. he has felt better on occasion- well enough to conquer jerimoth hill- but really for the most part has been fatigued, sore, and not hungry. finally, after a two-day trip up to new hampshire, matt returned home last night and asked me to take his temperature. it was a warm 101.8. i talked to some doctors and he took some ibuprofen and after 45 minutes, when his fever had gone up to 102, we decided to make a visit to the emergency room.

there were a number of theories as to what was causing the fever. the staff quickly drew some blood so that they could test for lyme disease, eastern equine encephalitis, and west nile virus, as well as strepp and other less trendy bacteria or viral diseases. they also did a chest and stomach x-ray and started him on IV antibiotics. randy and i stayed with matt in the ER until about 4am, when they were getting ready to admit him for the rest of the night.

today, they decided to do a CT scan and finally found what they think has been both the cause of his fever and the source of his stomach pain. matt has an alien growing where his duodenum used to be.

well, not an alien exactly. more like a "giant sac of liquid" as one nurse described it. it has also been referred to as an abcess, a fistula, and a cyst. the fist-sized blob has been pushing on his organs, right around the site of his surgery, making it very difficult for food to pass through his digestive tract. the great and humble dr. callery took a break from the tour to stop by matt's hospital room this evening and said that he has never seen anything like this develop three months post-op. he doesn't have any idea what might have caused it, but tomorrow they will drain the fluid out of the sac and try to figure it out.

meanwhile, matt is spending yet another night in a hospital and yet another day without eating. that, along with all the rough and trying days in the past two weeks, is the bad news. the good news is that getting rid of this blob is an easy thing to do and will not require surgery. it is also good that matt doesn't have some type of bacterial or viral infection that would be difficult to fight off. and, it is good that because of this setback, it is likely that the doctors will choose to delay the start of his chemo treatments so matt will have at least another week to recover. and finally, it is good to really believe that there is a corner to be turned in his very near future where he will genuinely start to feel better again.

oh, and whatever these things are, it is also good news that his treatment does not involve their use.