Update

Unfortunately we found out today, early afternoon, that the further results from the bronchoscopy came back and it is not the news we were hoping for at all … I am processing and trying to understand.

The preliminary tests show that the pneumonia in John’s lungs is in fact related to the spread of cancer as opposed to something else (bacteria, virus, fungus, etc). The bleeding in his lungs is also related to the tumor that is there. At this point, there is no option for more immunotherapy because the risks outweigh any potential benefits.

To recap, last night’s news with today’s context added in bold italics:

1. They ruled out systemic cancer growth and classified it as pneumonia - so this was good news, and this is still true because this is not a new metastasis, but…

2. There is bleeding inside John’s lungs, which may be tumor progression (of existing tumors) but it’s just one site. They will do more tests to confirm this component. So this is what they did more tests to confirm and they have determined that this pneumonia is from the bleeding and from the progression of existing tumors in John’s lung. This is bad. We needed this pneumonia to be from bacteria, infection, fungus.

John has had difficulty breathing today. His oxygen level was down to 92 and he was very weak. The doctors explained that a reduced oxygen level leads to lactic acid buildup, which is what is causing the weakness. He is now on 10L of oxygen per minute (up from 2L prior to the bronchoscopy), and that has helped his oxygen level rebound to 96.

John cannot get anymore immunotherapy treatments from Dr. Williams and his team.

We have to get John home as soon as possible. The doctors and Roy are doing everything to help make it possible for John to get home. I am working on those arrangements to get John back to Colorado immediately, hopefully tomorrow.