There is no new direction to report from yesterday's visit with the cancer
doc. The cancer continues it slow and steady increase. In the doc's words,
"We're going to have to really get serious about making a decision (to resume
chemo) soon," meaning probably next time. Then he said he didn't want to put me
back onto chemo because I am so good-looking (or was it looking so good?). I
will get another blood sample taken in late December, go see the local cancer
doc again in February (if not sooner), and go back to Mayo Clinic in Rochester
in March.
The long-awaited new cancer drug has been approved by the FDA, and should
be available by perhaps January. It will be followed by another drug a couple of
months later, and then a third one shortly after that. All that said, we will
probably go back onto the old cancer drug that worked rather than one of the new
drugs for two reasons:
- Insurance companies and perhaps the FDA may require that a patient be shown to have 3 therapies that failed before being given one of the new (very expensive) drugs. I can perhaps meet this criterion, but the stronger reason is
- We want to keep using the older drug until the cancer becomes resistant to it, then move on to the next available drug. Mixing drugs will create a cancer that is resistant to all of the them.
As always, thanks for the friendship and prayers.
