Walter Altenbach

As much as I enjoy being at the hospital, they managed to convince me Saturday morning that it was time to go home. The ERCP procedure was successful. The stent that was placed in the bile duct of the liver appears to be working as my liver function and bilirubin seem to be slowly returning to normal levels. Labs and follow-up with Oncology this week to confirm. If all looks good, we'll proceed with immunotherapy #3 later this week. Love and gratitude to each of you! ❤️ Your care, prayers and continued support are so important to us! God Bless! Walter & Family

Hi Everyone! Still dealing with this foot thing. It's better than it was, but still very swollen and painful. The first round of antibiotics didn't do much, so we're on to round two. Praying for better results this time. My Liver Function and Bilirubin numbers spiked yesterday to a level that landed me back in the hospital, where I'll likely be for the next couple of days. The concern is there is a blockage in my bile duct, so we're doing an ERCP sometime today and placing a stent to open that blockage. The goal is to get those liver function and bilirubin numbers back down to normal before they make me very sick. Unfortunately, this means we'll have to push what was scheduled to be my 3rd immunotherapy this Friday to the following week, thus delaying my cancer treatment yet again. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. Your love and support mean so much to us! We're truly grateful for each of you! ❤️ Till next time! Walter and family ❤️

Things have been pretty colorful since my last update two weeks ago. Post treatment symptoms from the second round of immunotherapy were mild until the end of day six at which time things got complicated. Severe abdominal pain, fever, intense fatigue, nausea and vision issues were a few of the fun treats we got to deal with for several days. The good news is, they weren’t as severe as the side effects from round one of treatment and they didn't land me back in the hospital. Silver lining. Shortly after those symptoms subsided, we added an emergency root canal for fun! Most recently, we've been dealing with this mysterious issue with my left leg. This past Thursday evening my leg blew up like a balloon from my knee to the tip of my toes. It happened it a matter of 90 minutes and brought on excruciating pain. So, back to the hospital we go! We spent three nights at the hospital running test and scans trying to figure out the cause only to conclude it's likely just some mysterious infection. I'm back home now, on a five day antibiotic course. Walking is limited and painful, but manageable for very short periods of time. God willing, things will be quiet and uneventful until the 3rd round of immunotherapy treatment scheduled for 9/25. Thank you all for continuing to share in this journey with our family, for your love and your support. We're grateful. ❤️ More to come - Walter ❤️

Great news today!! Liver function has returned close enough to normal to proceed with treatment today! So we're officially underway with immunotherapy treatment #2! If all goes well, treatment #3 is scheduled for 9/25, after which, we'll head back to Mayo for an updated MRI and CT to check progress. This past week has been somewhat uneventful. We've adjusted pain management a bit which has introduced some unwanted side effects but we're dealing with those in lieu of elevated pain. Seems to be working so far. Thank you all for your continued love, prayers and support! ❤️ My family and I are so grateful to have so many wonderful people in our lives. More to come. With love and the deepest gratitude, Walter ❤️

Slightly disappointing news today... Due to my continued elevated liver function, we have to postpone the 2nd immunotherapy treatment that was scheduled for today util next week, possibly the following week. We'll monitor labs and liver function closely and resume treatment as soon as we're able. Meanwhile, it's more rest and recovery. Thank you all for your continued prayers, love and support. ❤️ Walter