Yesterday’s blog post didn’t trigger an email to those of you who are subscribed to get notifications when we publish an update. You can catch up here: https://www.supportnow.org/the-steinhaus-family/updates/holding-pattern Hopefully it works today. 

Prayer request #1 from yesterday has been answered—even better than what we were asking. We wanted the histotripsy procedure to be scheduled for next Thursday. This morning they confirmed he was finally on the schedule on that date. Then they called back an hour later and asked if we could do it this Thursday, January 2, instead! We will arrive at NYU on Thursday morning at 9:30am to get an ultrasound (needed to visualize the specific tumor being targeted), then the histotripsy itself, then a CT directly after.

We are very thankful for this new slot and suspect Andrew’s medical oncologist leaned on the two doctors performing the procedure to do it ASAP. At the end of yesterday’s appointment with him, he said he’s ensured all the doctors understand that Andrew is a special case and they need to do everything possible to help him. This also makes us happy that we stayed at NYU, which is one of very few hospitals in the country offering this procedure. If he’d gone to Sloan or elsewhere he would likely instead have to do radiation on any rogue tumors like this one, and that comes with tough side effects. 

On Friday, Andrew will go back to see his medical oncologist to consent to be in the maintenance trial and hopefully officially start that next week. That’s when we’ll find out if he’s been randomly selected to receive immunotherapy. I’ll update later this week once we’re on the other side of all of Andrew’s appointments and tests.

Thank you all for your prayers. Please keep them coming.