5/09/2012

A new treatment

Hello Everybody!  Time has flown by and lots has happened in the past few weeks.  I recently got a call from my team in Philly and they told me they wanted to change my treatment.  They wanted me to start a clinical trial which treats the entire body instead of just the liver.  As of my last set of scans my liver was stable (yay!) so they felt it was important to start tackling the other tumors in my body.  The clinical trial they suggested is in Philadelphia at the same hospital I have been going to.  This was a big decision to make and we did lots of research on this trial and the other options out there.  After getting a second opinion and grilling Dr. Sato with a million questions, we decided that the trial in Philadelphia was the right path to take.

This trial requires me to go to Philadelphia once every two weeks for an infusion.  I had my first infusion on May 1st and my following ones will be May 15, May 29, and June 12.  I will get scanned on June 25th (the week of my birthday) to see if it is working.  I pray that birthday #27 is the best yet and I can celebrate that this drug is working!

Dad went up to Philly with me for my first infusion and, other than spending so much time in the hospital, we had a great time!  Dad is a foodie like me and we got to try some amazing restaurants around town.  It has been over a week since my first infusion and I feel great.  I have not had any side effects and just a mark on my arm to remind me that it happened.  My biggest complaint is that I missed the first kickball game of the season!

Here is a picture of Dad and me in the infusion room!