Back on the inside

Matthew is back in the hospital.  He was having a lot of abdominal pain and vomiting this morning.  They found that he has a blockage in his small intestine.  They are not sure what it is.  It may be scar tissue, it could be a twist, and it may be another tumor.  However, he just had a scan at MD Anderson that (we think) should have shown any tumors that size.  

There are a couple of things that complicate the issue.  1) Matthew has had a lot of surgery in the abdominal area.  2) Matthew had chemo on Monday-Wednesday, and one of the drugs in his cocktail  acts as a blood thinner.

As a result, they have decided to put him in the hospital and keep him on complete rest.  He has a drain that is draining his stomach and keeping the stress off his intestine.  He is also on an antibiotic and fluids.  They hope it may resolve itself and no further action will be necessary.  MD Anderson is currently full, so he will stay at Brazosport.  His doctor at MDA has been consulted, and the current course of treatment would be the same either place.

In addition, he had been experiencing back pain.  They did an MRI to rule out more tumor growth.  They found he has a bulging disc and vertebrae out of alignment by 25%.  He saw a local doctor, who said he needed a neurosurgeon.  At this time, there is no treatment plan for this problem.

As always, your prayers are greatly appreciated.