Two days ago I was having pain in my left shoulder, then I started having pain under my left ribs. I figured it was cramps, a stitch or maybe even gas. I was trying to think of moments where maybe I pulled a muscle or over stretched.
The pain was significant enough that I even went so far as to call my Oncologist yesterday to confirm it wasn’t a heart attack or anything nefarious that needed to be ruled out. In that call we decided it wasn’t dire but we were going to keep an eye on it and discuss after looking at lab results the next day.
So with no major concerns in mind I went out and played a game of soccer with the hopes that movement would get rid of the stitch. The game was fun but the pain was too much by about the 75th minute of running so I pulled myself off the pitch. I hated coming off but it felt like the smart thing to do.
Well, seems we got the answer in the meeting with Dr. R. today and is something I hadn’t even thought of as the pain was in a different spot. My Lipase and Amalase are high again with Lipase at 696.
So for the second time I was playing a sport while my pancreas was playing under duress. If you recall a year and a half ago I was skiing with the Lipase level at 1,700.
These are levels that cause serious pain and yet somehow I am continually surprised when it occurs. I always attribute it to something less serious - perhaps a case where my mindset needs to be more accepting of reality?
As I type this I am at the pharmacy getting a higher dose of steroids as we are hopeful that this rise in pancreatic swelling is due to inflammation due to the treatment and not blockage of a pancreatic duct from the tumour. The steroids coupled with skipping the Nivo treatment tomorrow are the course of action we are taking to hopefully reduce pain and Lipase/Amalase numbers. I’ll know more next week through blood work and by end of the week I will also get results of the CT Scan. A big week of information.
The good news at this point is that we think it’s a reaction to the drug which can be managed. If it isn’t then we are writing a very different set of posts, ones that I thankfully keep pushing off writing.
And besides, I have another soccer game next week and as old guys we all play with pain anyways.