O Ascites, Ascites, wherefore art thou Ascites?

Thursday, August 31st, 2017
Baltimore, Maryland

Health update

As you might recall from your high school English class, wherefore means why, not where. The question that my doctors are asking, now that the MRI of my liver was also normal, can be rephrased as:

"Why in the world is there ascites (fluid) accumulating in my belly?"

Unfortunately, to quote my nationally-renowned oncologist, with both MD and PhD degrees and thirty years of research experience under his belt, the answer is:

"We haven't the foggiest idea."

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Huh?

The official name for my current condition is non-cirrhotic portal hypertension, which decodes as: elevated blood pressure in the veins leading back to the liver that is not caused by damage to the liver itself. The increased blood pressure forces fluid (remember, we're mostly water) through the vein walls and into the belly.

The search is now on for the source of that elevated blood pressure, starting with a liver specialist. Until this hypertension is dealt with, any bone marrow transplant takes a back seat.

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Music

When we're not scouring through Wikipedia masquerading as portal hypertension researchers, we're listening to a lot of music. Here are a few that have caught my attention lately:

Pictures

Here are some photos that we've either taken or collected in the last week. ​​​