Jason’s still in the hospital. There was a lot of back-and-forth regarding removing J’s spleen. It’s frustrating from our end, sure, because we’d all like to have found the miracle answer and move on with our lives, but the reality is that we can’t be sure what the problem is, since it’s not always present on the left side; from time to time, he has this pain on his right, in the area of the bile ducts of his liver.
What is possible is that he may have two distinct things going on at the same time; they just happen to both be happening mid-abdomen. I’ve mentioned the cholangitis before, so I suppose that now is as good a time as any to explain the spleen thing, or at least as much as I know about it. Jason’s spleen is about 2x or more than the size of a normal male of his size and age. He has portal hypertension in the liver, which can lead to excess “stuff” backing up into his spleen. This can cause a variety of issues, but until we can determine this more definitively, the risks of removing the spleen (which, in a normal person, are big enough – just throw in J’s issues and we’re talking risky business) are too great with the possibility that the problem will continue to exist after removal.
So, we wait. We’re going to watch what happens over the next couple of weeks to couple of months. Certainly, ending up in hospitals and ERs four times in a week isn’t good, but if that’s what it takes, that’s what it takes. I am going to include more of Jason’s health issues in my own logging. Perhaps this will provide doctors with a pattern from the perspective of a 3rd party that is always present.
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