Strike Three

So I got the call this afternoon with the scan results, but tonight was the annual celebration of our oldest Taylor so I didn’t stop and write anything immediately. Now it’s late and I likely won’t write too much, but I figured it would be good to get an update posted.

Short version, it wasn’t the news we were hoping for. Yeah I know I said I wasn’t going to hope, but I lied. No, not really. It just goes back to that post about having a foot in hope and the other planted in reality. I knew how I’ve been feeling didn’t bode well, so I expected less than favorable results. And that’s what we got.

On the good side, there was some slowing of growth. Some. Not enough to continue on the current drug. So once again, I failed. Doesn’t make me a failure, but it is what it is. No need to keep taking the drug and hoping it will suddenly start working better. Because it showed growth (quite a bit despite being slower) but no apparent new spread that left me a good recommendation to crossover to the trial drug.

So they are submitting the data and recommendation to the trial sponsor and seeking their approval. I’ll need another couple of weeks of washing out the current drug from my system so I can start the new one when approved. Then the cycles start back over, so two more months of going to Phoenix every two weeks. Ugh. But we do what we gotta do.

So that’s the quick down and dirty. Am I disappointed? Honestly yes. This is another strikeout on a short list of options available to me. I really wanted this one to last longer for me. Many go years on this drug with it controlling or even stopping growth. So two months is less than favorable to say the least.

And yet, I’m grateful there is a next option. We will try this trial drug and really hope it does better. We need it to do better. This bugger is getting big and it’s a bully, pushing everyone around and making things not feel too great. We need to smack him around and put him in his place, and all his little cohorts that have spread around to other places!

So if you’re inclined to focus energy on any specifics, it’s to have this drug work to stop growth and even reduce the size of what’s there. My primary tumor mass is now 22cm, nearly as big as when I had surgery last year. And if you saw that gruesome photo, that was yuuuge.

Thanks for all the love and support. I’ll have more thoughts another day, but that’s all for now. Over and out.