We are still at the hospital after a long day, but the treatment mapping and scans are done…Nick is feeling tired but really good overall, and I think we both feel great knowing the plan. He’s just laying down resting right now, we are hoping to be discharged in a few hours.

As I said a few days ago, the mapping was basically a test run of local regional therapy to see how Nick reacts and to help determine which treatment is best-the Y90 radiation or TACE chemotherapy-both directly administered into the tumors through Nicks groin. Nick was a total trooper for the mapping-he did great.

We just got the complete lowdown from the interventional radiologist-he reviewed the mapping results and scans with the transplant surgeon and they are 100% on the same page which is wonderful. They want to treat Nick with Y90. The mapping showed this treatment would be “favorable” for Nick-90% of the radiation beads will go right to his tumor, leaving 10% that could go into his liver-this is a more favorable ratio than we were originally thinking. That being said, that 10% could be enough to tip Nick over into liver failure, but it also may not be enough…we have to take that risk and see.

So Tuesday Nick will have his first treatment and they will Y90 his largest tumor. We will have to wait a few weeks after treatment to see how the tumor responds and then go from there. In the interim Nick will be monitored by both the doctors here and the physicians at the University of Minnesota-they will work together very closely. At that point, if Nicks liver responds well and the tumor has shrunk, they will go in and Y90 the 2nd largest one…but one step at a time. All in all we have a plan and are scheduled to move forward…so we are feeling some wonderful clarity.

We hope you all have such a wonderful 4th with family and friends. We are looking so forward to getting home to the kids and having some r&r for a few days❤️

sending you much love xoxo