Monday, the 15th

We were initially told that Drew would have his biopsy done this morning, and that he would also have a port put in at the same time so that chemo could begin immediately. However, Dr. Hajjar came in later to say that he disagreed with putting in the port at that time. Sometimes in radiology-guided needle biopsies, you don't get a good reading. If the cells are dead, then there would need to be a biopsy cutting part of the tumor off. They were trying to avoid that biopsy, but if the reading wasn't good, it would be the only way to get a definitive answer. Since he would need to be anesthesized for the port, he didn't want to do the port, do the needle biopsy, and then realize tomorrow that he'd have to go in and redo the biopsy. So the port would wait.

It would be at least 24 hours to know the results of the biopsy. Still, the carefully-chosen words of the nurses spoke volumes of what their suspicions were. The words "cancer" and "malignant" were used more frequently but always with the understanding that their diagnosis could be proven wrong by the biopsy results. It was very clear to us that they felt fairly certain of what they were dealing with and were only waiting for an official report.

Drew's pain level increased after the biopsy and it was a good while before the nurses had it managed enough that he rested comfortably.

The wait had to be the hardest part.