It could be better...

...but it could be worse! Today was the "two month" appointment to see how things have been going, or...er...how things went. And when given a "two month" hiatus, one often becomes hopeful for reaching a temporarily stable path. As it turned out, one of the "blobs" showing in the MRI from May went for a repeat performance. About the same location, about the same intensity (or a little less). My initial reaction was, obviously, not thrilled. But after discussing it further with Dr. B and thinking about our initial attack on those tumors, I actually felt pretty ok. Here's the explanation:

For my initial treatment using Avastin, Dr. B took the approach to deliver it only once, and then watch and see what happens. The logic for this approach, to which I strongly agree, is that you don't want to load the system with a drug that the enemy will eventually learn how to defeat. It's similar to using far too many antibiotics to treat other diseases. When humans tend to take them when they aren't needed, they unintentionally create a "Super Bio", no longer able to kill with the original weapon. Dr. B did mention long ago that there was a chance it might recur, but if that were to happen, we could hit it again with more Avastin. In fact, back in May he specifically mentioned that "It wouldn't be very surprising for at some point in the future...4, 6, 8 months...to have some measure of rebound...." And we are currently at? Yes - 4 months. This led me to thinking, what if I could simply take the Temodar every month and add an injection of Avastin every 4 months, and all my cancer would stay dormant? That would not be a bad way to survive.

So at this point, I will get another hit of the Avastin this Friday. I will likely stick with the Temodar approach for another cycle, unless the Tumor Board has a very strong opinion otherwise. As for the rest, no other previously exposed tumors showed up again in the latest MRI, and that makes for some good news.