Resting Up

Beautiful day out here in SoCal - sunny, and 65, slight breeze - cool by Cali standards, but man, does it feel good for a guy from back East. And did I mention the 2+ lb grapefruit that Jen and I found at the farm stand yesterday?



Several folks have asked about how the chemo works. I included a picture from the first treatment last Tuesday. Andy rests pretty comfortably in a chair, and receives the chemo drugs (2) as well as bone strengthening (1) and a second line cancer drug (1) through an IV. He can get up, listen to music, read, eat, and harass the nursing staff about all the UCLA gear... He's allowed 1 visitor at a time, and as mentioned before, Jen and I split the last time.

Andy has been resting, which is good. None of us slept well on Friday night, all restless, all taking turns waking up - apparently my snoring on the couch caused Andy to move from the chair downstairs back to the bedroom - but we all hit the hay early last night and slept well. His rest is really important for his recovery, and pure exhaustion is probably the biggest impact of the chemo and meds that Andy has seen in the past week.

Andy met with his Radiation Oncologist (actually more like a team) on Friday for a few hours. Given that the cancer has spread to several sites, he will be receiving radiation treatment in addition to the chemo. He will start a radiation regimen of 15 total visits, daily, for 3 weeks. These will target several sites on his ribs, one on his lower right shin, a couple on his middle spine (T4, T7), and one up on his neck (C3). He will go for a "simulation" this week, during which they will measure him for and build a special pillow that he will lay in each time he goes for radiation. Each daily treatment will take around 30 minutes or so, and will not hurt, should not have adverse effects that he has seen with the chemo. The radiation is targeted, very precise, and designed to knock out the cancer cells. We are hopeful that these treatments will kill these sites, which will help him with the pain that he has been in, and allow him to rest and be comfortable.

In the meantime, he is on some new pain meds, and again, we are hopeful that these will help him manage the pain and allow his him to rest his body as the chemo takes the fight to the cancer.

Old and new friends, local and distant, visited over the weekend. It was great for Andy, as well as Jen and I, to see everyone. He managed it pretty well, only falling asleep a few times :). It can be tiring for him to talk about this ordeal but it lifts his spirits and is further testament to Andy's impact on our lives.

I head back East this week, and our Dad will rotate out for a long weekend. Andy and Jen get a few days break after our Dad heads back and then my Mom will head out for Andy's second chemo treatment.

Thank you to all those that have reached out, offered help, provided support, and asked how to help. We're still sorting it all out, getting insurance, appointments, disability worked out. Once we have that done, we'll probably have a better sense for how everyone's offers can be incorporated in Andy's fight against cancer.

Tim

All Quiet on the Western Front 26FEB2010

Hello all -

It's been a quiet few days, as well as quite a few days, for us with Andy. Andy is very tired, exhausted, and sleeping quiet a bit, which is to be expected as his body is physically exhausted from the trauma over the past few months, as well as the chemo. He's on a few drugs to manage pain and nausea, and they seem to be doing the trick. I am happy to say that he has been eating pretty well, given the chemo - risotto last night, pizza tonight, and lots of ensure, protein, and "greens" drinks to boost the immune system, as well as tea and other nutritional supplements.

Jen and I let Andy rest today, and were able to catch up on some other tasks (drs appointments, paperwork, "real" work :) and even get out for a bit. Jen and Nicholas visited with some friends in South Bay, and Nicholas polished off a full hamburger on his own - a first, his appetite has clearly not been affected. I snuck down to Santa Monica to visit our 3rd brother (a best friend growing up), who was in town for a few days, for of all things - a conference with leading international lung cancer doctors. He'll be coming up to visit Andy tomorrow which will be good for his spirits.

Tomorrow is another big day. On Tuesday, the full body bone scan came back, and Andy has two additional sites on his body - one on his lower right leg (shin) and one on his skull. Tomorrow we have our first meeting with a Radiation Oncologist. The primary oncologist believes that these sites can be managed through a few (1-2?) radiation treatments. It is our hope that these sites can be "zapped" and then will be gone. We'll also squeeze in a couple of xrays for good measure.

My parents have booked a flight out for my mom to visit for Andy's second chemo infusion. My dad will be heading out for the third infusion as well. A few folks have asked about visiting Andy. If you're in the LA area, give him a ring - right now it is hit or miss as to how he is feeling, almost hour to hour He has definitely appreciated the calls, emails, and visits from folks - all thoughts and prayers help too. We are hopeful that as this regimen continues he will get stronger and have a more normal schedule, and will have a better expectation as to how quickly he can recuperate from the chemo.

That's all for now!! Hope all are well and keep on rooting for Andy!

Tim

Day 1 DONE 24FEB2010

All: Chemo #1 done!! Well, injected :) the real fight starts now. Andy toasted with Jen and I tonight, said "today has been a good day, today I feel like I start bringing the fight to the cancer". We're all exhausted but in good spirits. I'll send more tomorrow, but as for today, Andy rested, was able to relax, listen to music, talk to Jen and I, the nurses (they were amazed he didn't say "pahk" being from Bawstahn) and even sleep a bit during the infusion. All told he was there for about 9 hours total and received 2 chemo drugs, another lung cancer drug, and a drug to strengthen his bones.

Again, more tomorrow - just wanted to get the good news out tonight. Speaking of which - good night all :)

Tim

The Road to Recovery Starts NOW 22FEB2010

All: Good morning, good afternoon, good day and Good News today for Team Andy. The results from the brain MRI are in, and they are clear - no lesions! This is great news.

We all had a great weekend. Andy's been tweaking his meds for pain, and thinks that we may have found the right mix and timing. We've been watching Olympics and cheering for the Red, White and Blue - for all our Canadian buds, sorry about the Big Game on Sunday :).

And... he starts chemo tomorrow. His first session will take about 7 hours. He's allowed to have reading materials, music, food, drinks during the session. As the nurses said, he can bring alcohol as well... as long as he brings enough for the full department :). Jen will start with him, and then I'll come in for middle relief - we'll figure out who's the closer as the day goes on.

We've been amazed at all the calls, emails and positive thoughts that have poured in since we sent the email the other day. Suffice to say, we haven't been able to return all, but each one is important and makes a difference. I am hopeful that these emails will help provide you information.

Tim

Little Victories for Andy 20FEB2010

Hi all, wanted to give an update on Andy. On Wednesday the diagnosis was finalized from the lung biopsy as stage IV nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) adenocarcinoma. Given that he is young & a nonsmoker this is pretty shocking. Its stage IV as it has metasticized (spread) to his liver and also one rib bone. There is a 5.5+ cm tumor on his left side, in a region on his left lower lung lobe (the left lung has two). This diagnosis is considered 'incurable' (more about that later though).

I flew out on Wednesday night for ~2 weeks. Andy is on pain medication as he has pain associated with a partially collapsed lung, as well as a suspected fractured rib and muscle strains/spasms in his lower back. He has lost some weight but as he says, he had a bit to lose anyways (his wife thinks I may have found it ;).

His friends out here, as well as all over, have been great. The cast & crew on his show took a collection that he's going to use to get some additional supplements and help cover copays for diagnostics and treatments.

Andy is remaining positive, his wife Jen is a rock and extremely loving, and little Nicholas keeps trying to give him a 'cars' bandaid for his back pain :). He's adopted 'die another day' by Madonna as his anthem. (And let me tell you, 'two Boston brothers in tight slacks' cranking madonna in a mini cooper on the way to medical appointments is very entertaining).

So! Its all about Little Victories now; yesterday's victory is getting all the approvals to have a full body bone scan, spinal xray and brain mri completed, just as precautions & to rule other sites out. We're 'manning the phones' (the secretaries @ the drs office, insurance, diagnostic already recognize their and my phone numbers :) to push thru the approvals to start chemo early next week, ideally Monday or Tuesday. Andy will get a regimen of 2 chemo drugs & a bone medication every 3 weeks, for a total of 6 doses. The goal is to shrink the tumor & halt the spread of the cancer, then take it from there. As it has spread they don't typically do surgery but anything is possible, and as a few friends have said, those swan boys are fighters, and he & our family & friends (Team Andy!) WILL fight this & BEAT IT. Every day is a little victory, and we're gonna add them up to a full long lifetime of fun, family & love. Incurable just means we're gonna have to manage it & keep fighting it into remission. Patients can live long, quality lives managing the disease, and that's our goal with Andy.

For now he will start treatment out here. We're going to get additional opinions of course, I hope to get his records into dana farber for review. As it proceeds he may end up on the east coast if he & Jen feel they can get additional care / services there.Andy and I are going to try to build a website so we can post updates & you can post notes, thoughts, stories of survival, old embarrassing pictures. We'll send out the link when we get time to do it. Its amazing, the amount of compassion and care and love that is being expressed, really a testament to who he is and what he means to us all. We love hearing from you and want you to know that things are crazy right now, and we haven't been able to return all the calls, texts and messages but every one is well received and helps Team Andy keep fighting. Every message is appreciated.

For now please keep him & the family in your thoughts and prayers. I'll try to get more updates out soon.

Tim