Matt had a follow-up appointment with Dr. Yao in Houston on Thursday, March 20. Most of the lab markers for his liver function and kidney function were either positive or trending in the correct direction after his first dose of chemo, so Dr. Yao ordered the final two treatments of the first round, which Matt took on Friday and Saturday. This time, however, the chemo was administered on an outpatient basis. Due to the aggressive nature of the cancer and the extent to which it has progressed, the chemo each day was administered over an 8 hour period rather than the usual 3-4 hours, so they made for long days. Those days were pleasantly shortened due to an unexpected visit from Matt's brother Philip who came down to provide moral support and medical insights. Phil is an intern at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, and was a tremendous help to both Matt and Crystal in understanding the implications of this type of cancer and what we should be expecting in terms of how this treatment will progress.
Matt will be undergoing lab work and follow-up visits on Thursday of this week to see how well he's tolerating these last two doses and to schedule the second round of chemo. We'll let you know more as soon as we have more details.
