Tonight I take my first pill of Temodar for the second time. The long story short? Sorry, not possible.
I had my oncologist Dr. B look into all sorts of other options, but the options were limited. First off, the growing tumors are in several different places, and so even the most aggressive surgeon, Dr. Berger, said that only about 50% of the new growth can be removed. On top of that, there didn't happen to be many effective clinical trials for which I could qualify. Those I would qualify for are Phase I trials, but it did not seem like the smartest approach. So it was essentially suggested that I turn back to the Temodar treatment with one small difference. Tomorrow I will also be getting a dose of Avastin for the first time. This is the substitution to surgery, with the belief (hope?) that what is showing up now will be starved to weakness, and will no longer rear its ugly face as long as I'm taking Temodar.
Now my biggest goal, outside of this actually working, is to find ways to maintain some level of energy throughout the treatment. Others have found ways to manage it, so why can't I? I've pulled in lots of extra methods to fight the battles I'm facing, and hopefully down the line this will just be a minor side-treatment that will keep me going for a long, long time....
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It is tough when the growth is in different locations. But a systemic treatment will reach multiple locations, and bevacizumab has shown good activity against glioblastoma. So this sounds like a great course of action for the situation you're in. Wishing you a very easy chemo round today, and lots of energy afterwards! I'd be curious to know the strategies others have used to keep up their energy.
ReplyDeleteI don't know anything about Avastin and glioblastoma, but I did see it knock out my sister's lung cancer. Holding out hope for you.
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