Home again, home again...

...but for how long? While we were en route home today, we got a call from both the Fellow and research nurse assigned to Woody at the moment. Somehow we missed both calls and I didn't realize that we had messages till we were almost home this afternoon. By the time I tried to return the calls, it was too late in the day, due to the time change, for them to be answering their phones. So I left messages with the doctor, the nurse, and also with the social worker we didn't get to see yesterday. The doctor's message: Woody has been scheduled for surgery next Thursday, May 6th. He needs to be there in the morning on Wednesday, May 5th for preop stuff. So it is suggested that we be there Tuesday, May 4th. Hmmmmmm not even unpacked and already planning a return trip.

The plan is to use Woody's Melanoma tumor/s that they remove during this surgery to grow more cells. If these cells grow then Woody will go on to the next step in the protocol. It will take around 2-3 weeks to see if the cells grow. Then if they are growing, they will let them grow a couple of more weeks...as they want billions of these cells. (We will be at home, while the cells hopefully grow.)

If the cells grow successfully, then they will be bringing Woody back to NIH and giving him chemo that will come close to destroying his immune system...just before it gets totally destroyed, they will start to give him back the cells that they have grown from his tumor and they will also give him one round of IL-2. Then his immune system is supposed to start building back up. That hospital stay will be around three weeks.

In a nutshell...that is what "may" be happening over the next several months, barring any show-stoppers.

Not going to concentrate on the big picture for the time being...as we have to figure out logistics for next week! Waiting till after I talk to NIH folk tomorrow before we make any decisions as to how, when, and where we get there, etc!

The above picture is only part of the front of the main building on the NIH campus...that's Woody sitting on the bench waving (lower right hand corner).

Guess I'll go unpack...maybe!