Stent replacement surgery went well yesterday. The Surgeon replaced both of my stent with newer, larger ones to help with the flow of urine from my kidney to bladder. We are hoping that the stents, being larger, will help to bring down my creatinine levels so I can restart my immunotherapy.
This is the first step in determining why my creatinine levels have gone up. There are two other reasons it may be rising. One is the antibiotic I am on can also increase creatinine, but it's a low possibility. The second is the immunotherapy itself.
The reason I had neph tubes originally and stents now is because my cancer had been obstructing the flow of urine from the kidney to the bladder which means it was backing up into the kidney. Before I had the stents put in and the neph tubes taken out, my creatinine was at 140.
Three days after the stents were put in, my creatinine level dropped to 139 (so relatively stable). On the same day that reading was taken, I had my first immunotherapy session. After that session, my creatinine level jumped to 171. After my second immunotherapy session, it jumped to 191. They postponed my third immunotherapy session. My creatine did rise a bit after that, but to only 196.
So as you can see, if the stents don't reduce my creatinine, and there is no obstruction issue with my ureters, it may very well be the immunotherapy sessions that are increasing my creatinine.
Nonetheless, my urology oncologist may consider completely removing the stents if it's found that there is no obstruction that is causing my kidneys from functionning normally.
Will keep you all posted, and thanks again for all the support and emails you keep sending me. You cannot know how much is has made a difference in my success at beating the cancer.
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