Update on seizures and back pain

Today Andrew is much more alert and acting himself. He's no longer having issues with word finding or confusion, though he does not have memory of his seizures or anything that happened yesterday.

Andrew was not able to fully understand directions or stay still for the full brain and spine MRI yesterday, so they prioritized getting the brain images. They have some incomplete images of the spine that they're using to make some education guesses as to what is happening there.

It's confirmed that there are numerous cancerous lesions in the brain. It's suspected, but not yet confirmed, that there is one tumor on his neck, one in the middle of his back that created the compression fracture, and some evidence of disease in the spinal fluid. It is very rare for pancreas cancer to metastasize to the brain, and this likely changes Andrew's prognosis quite a bit.

After a repeat spine MRI and perhaps another CT on Monday, the doctors will start to put together a radiation plan. The three options being discussed are: 
1) Aggressively target the whole brain and spinal cord with radiation with 10 sessions over a two-week period.
2) Do radiation on the whole brain plus just the tumor in his neck, which is thought to be the biggest one.
3) Target only the brain metastases.

They started Andrew on steroids last night, which could prevent progression in the short term. It's also helping to bring down inflammation and pain and maybe sharpen his cognitive abilities some too. We hope to see another good day tomorrow and then get more information about what's next on Monday.

Andrew is looking at his phone right now for the first time since Thursday before he went to sleep. If you've reached out to him, please message him again. It will take a while to get back to people, but we appreciate everyone who is thinking of and praying for us.