Labs for Biopsy and Y-90 Phase 2

A week ago Friday, we took a field trip to Cypress so Roy could have labs done at Quest – the local Quest was not available until this week and the medical team at Methodist would not schedule his lymph node biopsy until the labs were done. It’s a very fancy Quest at the intersection of the Grand Parkway and 290 – so very new that the building is not even completely occupied or built out. The housekeeping crew was mopping up construction dirt in the lobby. This new slick Quest facility was a stark contrast with the crowded, ugly, and often stinky Quest we have in College Station.

These labs were a repeat of those Roy had before the Y-90 phase 1 so nothing new, just the standard ones that he’d had eight days before. They came back only slightly different from the previous results. And as of Monday, because he had those labs, he’s scheduled to have the lymph node biopsy. The biopsy will be with Interventional Radiology at the Med Center on Wednesday because of the enlarged nodes on his latest Chest CT.

Yesterday morning, we drove into the Med Center to Houston Methodist for Roy’s Y-90 Phase 2. This was with Dr. Taylor at the Interventional Radiology department. Roy had to be very still as expected but apparently had a procedure full of conversation because he was sedated but not asleep. This time, they used the map from Phase 1 and look some special precautions to avoid a peculiarity they found during that step – a falciform artery which is apparently just a vestigial thing from Roy’s umbilical cord and supplying skin along his abdomen. The team added an ice pack on his abdomen to make the artery constrict and keep it from taking any of the Y-90 glass microspheres. The interesting part, apparently, was when they had to call for the Y-90 dose and it was brought in. The amount used is calibrated very carefully and the man who handles delivery of this radioactive material did tell Roy there is one catch – if Roy develops super powers, he must let them know.

While Roy recovered for two hours, Dr. Taylor let me know that the full dose had been administered and the procedure went well. Roy might be a little nauseous or sore because he got the full dose this time, but it may not hit him until after a few days. He might feel extra fatigued or like he has flu. Dr. Taylor asked when the transplant evaluation would be (April 6-7) and let me know that we will see if the Y-90 does the job or not in about 3 months.

Roy got scanned again and then back to recovery. Afterward, around 3:30 pm, they let me see him and released him back into my custody for the strange ride home in the flat-back passenger seat during Friday 5 pm traffic. We managed to scoot out of the city before our preferred route got closed down for the weekend. They’re doing a very expensive, and extensive, flood-prevention project at I-10 and Studemont and along I-10 from there west to the 610 loop. The road is slated to be open again before Wednesday. It was a long day.

So far, Roy just feels like he got walloped and he’s sleeping a lot. Hopefully the Y-90 will do the job. We won’t know until late June.