Beginning Treatment

Maureen and I finally received the highly anticipated genomic testing results. As it seems with most of my medical tests, the results were a “mixed bag”. We did similar testing when I was first diagnosed two years ago and we completely “struck out” regarding eligibility for a targeted therapy for my specific cancer mutation. Fast forward to today and the best analogy I can give is that we reached first base on an infield error.

More specifically, the mutation that came back in the test results does not have an effective approved targeted therapy. There are a few clinical trials that are in the early phases related to this mutation and only one of them appears to be promising. This clinical trial is currently considered an “investigational” drug and has very stringent eligibility requirements. One of the requirements is that the patient has to have already undergone standard chemotherapy, which I have not had.

Therefore, Maureen and I have decided with the advice of our oncologist to do several rounds of standard chemotherapy and see how it goes. The scheduled chemotherapy regimen includes two drugs infused every three weeks. The plan is to do at least 4 rounds and rescan before the third round.

Fortunately, we caught the cancer early so there is a good chance the chemotherapy knocks out the cancer. The best-case scenario is to be cancer free after the chemotherapy regimen and also then be eligible for the clinical trial should the cancer return.

The first infusion is scheduled for Thursday, February 7. At this point, I’ve known about the cancer returning for over a month; so, I’m just ready to begin treatment and start fighting again. I know there will be side effects and the potential of increasing my seizure risk. However, I’m confident that my body will rebound as it has with every challenge over the past two years and I will continue with daily life as much as possible.