Ok so I haven't been very good at keeping this thing up to date. Last I left off we were doing Docetaxel for treatment and the only results we were getting were hair loss, nose bleeds, hiccups, and neutropenia. Oh wait, those are side effects, not the results we were looking for. A few weeks ago we scanned to see how things were going and the results weren't promising. The lymph node had grown again to 40% what it was at the end of January to about the size of a baseball. Good news was that it is still undetectable elsewhere. This basically meant the drug wasn't cutting it so time to move on. The options were Pemetrexed or a new trial drug. Pemetrexed is a standard traditional chemotherapy drug and by traditional I mean the type that tries to kill the cancer before making you too sick. The trial drug was one we had talked about before and targets a protein on the cancerous cells to deliver the chemotherapy drug and hopefully leave all your normal cells alone. The catch however was that there was a waiting list that takes top 3 and I was number 4. This would mean I would be at the top of the list when they accept more candidates in 10 weeks. Ten weeks, seems like a long time to wait so I wondered what the other options were. Can we do Pemetrexed in the meantime? Should we shoot this thing with some radiation to stunt its growth? Turns out my oncologist had one other item of news, my blood counts have been on a steady decline for the past couple months and aren't bouncing back as nicely as they used to. This was even with the aid of a Neulasta shot to boost my white blood cells. This was due to the amounts of chemo I have been receiving but the dangerous part is that the levels can become chronically low. Traditional chemo drugs do have this side effect and you can imagine it is one to avoid. Chronically low blood counts would be bad for day to day life but also exclude me from being accepted to any future drug trials.
So here I am, sitting in the doctors office being told that my cancer is still growing, my blood work isn't looking good, and that as a result I should do nothing and wait the 10 weeks for the trial to open back up as doing Pemetrexed or radiation would very likely make me ineligible for this and future studies. Not comforting news. As a side note, my oncologist confided in me that he figured I had a 50% chance of getting into the study in just three weeks if one of the other three candidates became ineligible. He happened to know a colleague that had a patient who wasn't doing so hot. Great, so now I'm hoping somebody's condition gets worse so that I get on the trial faster? That can't be good karma. We left the doctors office a bit frustrated as you can imagine. I decided to sleep on it for at least a week to make a decision on our next steps.
A week later, after thinking about my options, I got a call from my oncologist with good news. A patient had dropped out as a result of their lymph nodes being too small to be eligible. So I was in! And I didn't get in as a result of someone's bad results it was because the patient was getting better!
This Wednesday was the first infusion. Luckily it only takes 30 minutes but since it is a Phase 1 drug (first time in humans) there are a lot of blood draws, EKGs, and other tests to make sure I am ok and figure out how long it takes the drug to metabolize in the body. As a result Wednesday's visit was a 9 hour ordeal. Then there are draws on the following three days. So I am pretty much living up in Seattle for the time being. This only lasts for the first cycle so after three weeks it will be more manageable. Side effects so far are non existent so I hope it is working on the cancer. Next scan is in 8 weeks so expect an update at least around then (hopefully sooner).
On a lighter note, the hair is coming back. Once again the beard is coming in nearly white and progressively getting darker. I was getting used to the no shaving or haircuts. It has been nice hanging out with the nephew who is obsessed with Thomas the train and RC helicopters. Looking forward to heading over the mountains this weekend to visit the folks. Should be 80degF and sunny, maybe time to open up the pool? We will probably spend some time helping prep the place for my youngest sisters wedding which is this August. She asked me to officiate which makes me excited and nervous. This will be my second wedding I have performed but the first had like 6 people in attendance, this one will be more like 200. Wish me luck!
