The oncologist says the tumor has grown a little...minutely, but a little. This all but guarantees that the surgeon will want to take it out. Tony is scheduled to meet with the surgeon tomorrow.
The surgery may be back on for Thursday the 19th. The surgeon does not want to wait until the 24th, so he is trying to rearrange surgery schedules to free up the anesthesiologist for the 19th. The nurses say that this surgeon gets what he wants, so the surgery is most likely this Thursday.
Keeping Tony awake during certain parts of the procedure (not all of it) allows the surgeon to get more of the tumor with less risk of impact on his speaking, thinking, motor skills, etc. The oncologist is guessing they can get 95% of it this way. Chemo will have to get the rest, and the kind of chemo treatment will depend on analysis of the tumor after it is removed.
The surgery would be followed a couple of weeks later with a follow-up appointment and the start of chemo treatments. Tony still has to be in Houston in December, January, and February for checkups on the virus trial even though it hasn't worked. The FDA requires it to make sure he doesn't become contagious and pass the virus to others.
This development probably means that Tony and his Mom will be in Houston until mid-December before they could come back to Alaska.
Tony seems to have accepted this in-stride.
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