Hanging in there....

We spent the day Wednesday at Dana Farber. Ricky has had a terrible cold since Saturday and he is just now (Friday) starting to return to his old self. He's home today after sleeping 12 hours.

His exam was stable, and good news for us, his platelets were up to 105K, his WBC and ANC were all much better. He weighted 69.9 lbs, a new record, and he grew a little too. So as far as being in good shape for the new treatment, he is in a good spot.

We did the Avastin by IV and went home with the five new chemo meds. He seems to be doing okay with them, but it's only been two nights.

In general, he looks and acts much better than he has in the last couple of weeks or so. His speech is better, he is more responsive and less irritable. He had three big tacos for dinner last night and two more for "evil" breakfast this morning.

Thanks to all for the kind words and prayers.

Choice made on new treatment

After doing our research and weighing the options, we have decided to go for the clinical trial which uses a five drug daily cocktail taken orally, with Avastin every two weeks by IV. While Ricky did clear the wait list for the other program, it involved another MRI and a PET scan, both of which are things Ricky would find very invasive right now. We have also decided that if this new plan causes his quality of life to decline, we will most likely stop.

We hope to start the new treatments Wednesday, assuming his platelets are over 75K. He's had a bad cold since Saturday, not feeling well at all.

Just back from Dana Farber....

As we suspected, the results of the MRI were not good. The existing tumor, in the resection cavity, is not much bigger than the January MRI. However there is now a large area of edema (swelling caused by fluid), on the right side of his brain, which is the result of the tumor spreading. They believe this is what is causing the changes in his behavior we have noticed the last week or so.

They offered three options - do nothing, see if we can get him in a Phase I trial of a drug called AZD2171 or start him next week on a Phase 2 trial using a five drug, anti-angiogenic regimen, with or without Avastin. Both the trials are oral, taken at home, however the Avastin, if used, would be every two weeks by IV at Dana Farber. Rick is tired of the hospital visits, blood tests, etc so these plans have some appeal since he could take the pills at home. Doing nothing is an option for the same reason, however his time could be very short, maybe as short as four to six weeks. It could be longer, they can't predict. They tell us that trying the new drugs brings a risk of toxicity and they have no idea if they might be effective so we are pretty much in the corner. We will decide in the next couple of days.

His exam was okay, platelets were at 65K, and his counts otherwise were about typical of what we have been seeing. They did confirm a slight change in speech, mental alertness, etc. that we have seen.

Monday, Monday......

We had the MRI Saturday morning, and while we don't have the formal results, we were told that the tumor is larger and there is a second new area as well. We will know more detail and where we go from here on Wednesday.

Ricky and I left for Vermont right from the MRI, which really cheered him up. He's feeling ok, but not great, and his memory and energy seem to be slipping. He is however, eating and sleeping well.

Quick update...

Numbers are still not very good, Ricky had 63K platelets today. He got the reduced dose of medicine. No nausea so far today. He has been having more headaches......not a good sign.

If the MRI results are not favorable, we will most likely be switching to another chemo drug.

I expect the MRI results early next week.

We're always thankful for the prayers and good thoughts!

Bill

Numbers, numbers, numbers

Like many things in life, it's about the numbers. Ricky's platelets fell to 61K on Wednesday, which is below the 75K threshold needed for treatment. We had been hoping he would still be around 100K, in which case we would have increased the dosage, but instead, we reduced it by half yet again. So he's getting 25% of the guideline dose. Not sure if this will be effective......

He's also just feeling pretty poor. Malaise, fatigue, TIAs, a slight cold, you know he's not feeling good when he doesn't want to go to eat. He's at a EN&T specialist this morning to see if we can get a handle on the bloody noses which have been happening the last few weeks.

MRI is the 14th...........

Bill