Dear Family and Friends,

John was just released from the hospital a short while ago, so don't go visit him there. John recovered from the Pancreatitus on Thursday, but they found that his bilirubin numbers continued to go up. That means that John's Jaundice continues to get worse despite the metal stent that was supposed to clear the passage. So, they repeated the procedure on Friday. Unfortunately, they found that the stent was perfectly placed and the bile was flowing out. This means that we must consider a secondary cause for the Jaundice besides the constriction of the bile duct. The most likely causes are advancement of the cirrhosis he has lived with since tumors damaged his liver in 2003 or alternatively, new tumors on the liver. In both cases, the doctors can do nothing to treat the problem. What's more, such a condition eliminates all viable options for treating the cancer, because all effective treatments send toxic materials through the liver. We will discuss the next step with the oncologist on Wednesday. Meanwhile, we focus on having a nice holiday. I wish you the same, and thank everyone who took time out of your busy holiday preparations to support us and also thanks to those who made the attempt but did not manage to connect with us.

Happy Holidays!

Love,

Martha

PS If you get these messages as a forward and want to get them directly, go to www.innervisions.com and sign up for updates. I don't keep the list or even know who is on it.

PPS To send me an email, don't reply to the message. Instead, send to sharabpetso@sbcglobal.net