Oh man! We had some kinda fun in Maui hangin' with my college friend, Carol and her husband, Matt! We sat around. We watched whales. We ate good food. We saw some good scenery. We watched the Seahawks win and momentarily bonded with other condo people who are also fans. We just had fun bein' together.

Unfortunately, Harv experienced pretty intense shoulder and neck pain while we were there. Mostly at night.  He's been having this pain for a while and has had an MRI and tried to find relief through acupuncture,  physical therapy, & medical massage. Most of those things provided some relief, but nothing has helped long-term.

When we got back I emailed his liver surgeon because I wondered if there might be some correlation to his prior surgery and the pain in his neck/shoulder. I had read that nerves in the intestinal area sometimes refer pain to the neck/shoulder. Some of you keep up with me on FB and you saw my post about how quickly he responded when I emailed him. I was shocked....and quite impressed. He indicated that on Harv's most recent scan that there are nodules near or on his diaphragm. When we last saw Dr. Lin, he had not received the written report from radiology and was reading the scan as we met with him. I don't recall any information about the nodules, but was not totally surprised that they are there. Dr. Park thinks that it's possible that those nodules are referring the pain to his neck/shoulder.

So, he sent an email to Dr. Lin and now the ball is rolling to get a more recent scan. We also saw Dr. Nestor, his local oncologist, and he has prescribed some topical cream that may (or may not) help his pain...as well as some other pain meds -- at least until we are able to get the scan and determine next steps.

Dr. Park said that sometimes targeted radiation is possible, but that they have to be pretty careful because the colon is so close. It's possible that they can do a nerve block. And, there may be a possibility of involving a pain management team. 

While I'm not necessarily excited about the news of nodules, I do like the thought of resolving the pain issue. Hopefully, it can be taken care of quickly so Harv can get some good rest at night. It's been a long time since he's had good sleep. 

We would appreciate your thoughts and prayers and good vibes as we try to solve this puzzle. And, I would appreciate your thoughts, prayers and good vibes as I try to turn my brain off. 

Thanks for tuning in. I'll try to keep you posted as we know things.