DFCI Visit

Good evening, a quick note before the next big day...

Team Andy rolled into our Dana Farber visit Thursday after a day of resting with the folks. It was refreshing, invigorating - everyone who works there, from parking to reception to nurses to doctors all smile and take time to make sure the patient and family are ok. Andy met with two doctors for over an hour; they reviewed his case and laid out a plan for establishing the next treatment plan. He gave more blood :) and was checked to make sure that he didn't get a blood clot from the flight (he didn't).

When I finally had the chance to meet Karen, the head nurse who shepherded me and Jen through getting Andy into DFCI, I just about gave her a huge hug in the waiting room. It was awesome to have Andy there, sobering that he needs to be at DFCI but overall exciting to have him treated at a great facility. He is under the care of a DFCI fellow who is studying under the Director of Thoracic Oncology.

One note about DFCI - the Red Sox are huge donors/sponsors, and their footprint is all over the facility. We got a great shot of Andy, Jen and Mom between the 2004 and 2007 World Series pennants... needless to say, all had big smiles. I will add it to this blog entry soon. Dad stayed home, trying to keep up with Nicholas, so we'll get him with Andy and the pennants soon.

Over the weekend several friends and their families visited; it was great to catch up, to have all the kids running all over the Swan homestead and great for Andy to see old friends. Sunday he was laid out from the Saturday BBQ and spent the day resting.

Today we got news that we expected and which leads to tomorrow's event. The T7 tumor that was removed cannot be used for testing, as it is pleomorphic as a result of the targeted radiation delivered in March... so tomorrow Andy heads into Brigham & Woman's (next door to Dana Farber) to have fresh cells biopsied from his liver. This is an outpatient procedure and he will be home resting by evening. I'll head in with Jen and Andy, and then head to work; Dad and Nicholas will make the pickup later in the day when Andy is ready to go.

The cells will be comprehensively tested for 6 somatic genetic mutations; we are hopeful that a treatment plan can be made based on the initial testing by early next week. (Full testing will take up to 3 weeks to have all the tests completed). It's really important that we have complete results after the spending a good amount of time on testing, so getting the fresh cells is important.

Thursday we hope to have Andy into a neurosurgeon for a post surgery check up on his back and to have the surgical staples removed. He'll also be meeting with a nutritionist to help fatten him up :).

That's all for tonight, I'll try to get something out in the next few days on the news.