Monday, October 15, 2007

Mucho Info

Andy's CT was today. Once again, he was a trooper. When we got back to the Costas Center we were informed that he was to be admitted. One of his blood cultures came back positive. Better safe than sorry. Since his surgery is already scheduled, it would really be teh sux to miss it. So he's been admitted and is being pumped full of antibiotics. So greetings from 4406!

Ok all, don't panic when you read this. Don't post or call with your questions without reading the entire thing first (Dad!). Read it all the way through.

The CT scan showed no change. This is not unexpected. There's a type of cell in there that won't necessarily cause the tumor to shrink as it dies. The determinant will be AFP numbers + sugery, so we'll find out what's up very soon anyway.

The CT scan also showed something else...

Before I say what it is, remember Andy's blood culture came back positive. And he's had a bit of a cough. Chances are pretty good he has a very minor infection that's somehow touching his lungs. You know, when you get an infection and you sneeze or cough? Same thing. With his counts being as high as they are, it's nothing to worry about. The only thing we're worried about right now is missing surgery.

Ok, so here's what they found. A very very small nodule on his lung. It's so small that they're not even going to worry about testing to see what it is for right now because it's probably the infection.

If, after surgery, AFP numbers don't go down, then we may have cause to worry about it being the disease.

Ask my aunt, she'll tell ya. Lung nodules are rarely cancerous.

So...

Andy will receive antibiotics like mad between now and Wednesday. Hopefully Wednesday will be surgery.

AFP numbers will be monitored closely and no CT scan will be performed until weeks after surgery. There is very little cause for concern with the lung nodule.

Whatever Andy has is not contagious. His counts are up and won't drop because there won't be any more chemo.

So if you want to see Andy, now's your chance. Feel free to visit all you want this evening and all day tomorrow, just make sure you Purell, even if you're not going to be touching him.

The flood gates have been opened.

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