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.