The latest and greatest… 6/9/16

Greetings…. and cancerous salutations….

I had a CT scan 5/26/16. It was just a follow up to the cryo ablation procedure I had on April (26th), to make sure that they treated the entire area they were wanting to. That treated area is now all cleared up and healing. There is however, a new little spot growing elsewhere in the liver now. I mean, I am pretty amazing at growing these tiny things… that takes talent.  It sounds like it too is treatable, another ablation likely in future, no rush. I saw my oncologist last week Tuesday, we agreed on going forward with a light chemo regimen. It’s basically like maintenance chemo. I started it last Tuesday. It will consist of a 30 minute infusion of Avastin every other week (into the old port hole) and an oral 5FU pill 7 days on, 7 days off (3 a day or something). I had the 5FU through infusion last week for insurance purposes, waiting on approval. Pill form starts next Tuesday.

So the plan is to go forward with this chemo for two months and then at the end of July I’ll get a CT scan to see if that little spot has grown, stayed the same, shrunk, or if it has any new friends. Depending how things look at that time I will either stick with this chemo, start a new stronger chemo, talk about some other options of treatment, or have another cryo ablation… or maybe a couple of those things (cryo+). Time will tell. We’re just trying to figure out the best way to keep things from popping up in the liver in future and to keep them from growing anywhere else…

Things seem to be staying in my liver, so that’s good. They aren’t growing in other locations, always a positive.

In the past couple of months, I’ve had a couple of tests run on tissue they had removed during surgery in December and another test from a simple blood draw (Guardant360). These tests look for cancer mutations present in old tumor material collected in December or for cancer cells floating around in my blood currently. These tests are designed to look for certain mutations in order to know what chemo drugs may or may not be useful in future or if there may be clinical trials I would qualify for (also in future), if necessary. The more info the better.

Other than that, I’m feeling fine. I’m keeping busy at work and ready to likely avoid the sun for yet another summer (thanks to chemo). I love being pale… it’s quite wonderful… pale skin and darkening under the eyes makes you appear thinner than you are, so that’s charming. I also think I have to abstain from drinking again, I need to find out. Chemo + Alcohol is a little hard on the liver… I did enjoy my “moderate” drinking era, the last few months… that was real nice like…

I guess stay tuned. If anything changes, you’ll be the last to know…. no offense… sometimes I’m just lazy.

Cheers.

 

 

2 thoughts on “The latest and greatest… 6/9/16”

  1. Thanks for the update, sweet niece! I continue to admire the fact that you always sound so matter of fact about all the poking and prodding and new protocols…
    The reality is that I’m sure you work pretty hard at that “keep calm and carry on” attitude which makes me admire you even more…
    Sending hugs your way…xoxo

  2. Thanks buddy for keeping us informed! You are a true hero to me! Keep up the good work friend! I’m proud of you and keep you in my prayers daily!

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