Oh, the Places You'll Go

Well, this cancer journey takes me to a lot of places, so I thought the Dr. Suess title would work here.

Almost two weeks ago, I called into the doctor to find out that there is growth on the liver again. It was kind of like going from 0 to 60 in a second as my last scan showed continued regression. To find out there was growth was obviously a bit of a shock. But, that is how cancer is. It is sneaky bad word, bad word. It is no respecter of time, person or places.

Because I called in ahead of time to find my results, I was able to process the news and take some action on my own before meeting with my doctor the next Tuesday. I made an appointment that day to meet with my doctor at U of M, Dr. Hayes, to see what his opinion might be and if there were any clinical trials available to me.

I had also been contacting some people about a trial in Rhode Island that is very promising, but it does not start until August. Although it may be an option at some point in my future, I cannot wait at this point to start treating the cancer. It would be wonderful if it truly were a cure for this awful disease.

I had my information ready and I went in to see my doctor here in GR last Tuesday. I was nervous, because I didn't know how she would be about my appt. at U of M or how she would respond to the other trials I was interested in. She is a very quiet doctor, and it is hard to read her sometimes. Prayers were answered, because she and I had the best dialogue that we have ever had since I have been seeing her. I told her about my upcoming appt., and she responded by saying she was going to suggest that I see Dr. H again to see what he might have available for the future. She also mentioned another cancer center in Detroit that may have some trials for me at some point, and gave me a doctor's name there. She said she was very open to whatever Dr. H may suggest, and we discussed further some of the new treatments that may be coming out in the future. It was so amazing as we were really on the same wavelength the entire visit, even down to my asking about my blood work about the same time she was going to look at it. It was an empowering feeling to know that not only was she just my doctor, but she truly is on my team and wants the best for me. She suggested going back on a previous combo that I have had that worked well for me if there was not anything for me at U of M. I had a return appt. with her today to discuss my findings from U of M and possibly start on the chemo.

Right after my appt., the girls and I headed to Kentucky for a fun visit with my family. We had a wonderful time, but needless to say the unknowns were swirling around my head quite a bit. I enjoyed the shopping, eating out, fish fry, my new favorite game (bag in the hole)[side note: I call it corn in the hole to be funny, but I digress], the heat--yes, the heat, and just hanging with the family.

We returned home on Monday, then yesterday afternoon I had my visit at U of M. It was originally at 2:00, but they called to see if I could do 4:00 so that they could spend more time with me. So we first met with the assistant to go over all of my previous history. It is quite impressive to see how much information they can fit on one sheet of paper. We waited quite awhile, while the assistant went to talk to "the boss" and go over my ct scans that I had brought. They finally come back in and Dr. Hayes checks me over real quick and then asks if we mind waiting while he saw his last patient, so that he could concentrate on talking with us. We moved to a bigger room (and much cooler room--I might add). I was sweating like crazy in that first exam room. Once again we all sit down, and he gives his normal spill about how every doctor "bakes the cake" differently, but they all still work. There are many different ways to do things, and Dr. Y had taken care of me well. But then, he goes on to say that the other reason I come to see them is to see if they have clinical trials available and at this point they did have one that I would be eligible for.

He goes on to describe the trial, which is based on their discovery there at U of M of what they call the breast cancer stem cells. These are not like the normal stem cells you hear about on the news. They are more like part of the tumor that feeds it. Or to use Josh's analogy which Dr. Hayes really liked, that the stem cells are like the seeds of the tumor. Without them, the tumor cannot grow. They have tested different drugs that attack these specific cells, and what they have come up with is that this certain drug, called MK-0752 combined with a chemotherapy drug, Taxotere, can be found to attack these cells. The drug has been safely used in alzheimers patients, but sadly with no benefit to them. They are testing the safety of using this drug in combination with the Taxotere. Thankfully, for me, I have always had good response to the taxane class of drugs, and the doctor feels that I would do well even if I were to use the taxotere alone. But, we are going to do this trial and try to do further damage to those tumors with this combo. The main drawback is that I will have to travel a few times a month to Ann Arbor to receive the pills and to get the chemotherapy. We feel that it is worth it as this is an open door that will add a possible ammo to my arsenal of drugs. We may need some help with getting me to and from Ann Arbor, so if anyone likes to drive cute green Saturns, feel free to let me know!

I really, really like Dr. H. His bedside manner is divine, and he is such a positive guy. He even took time to show us a rare picture of a cancer cell that very few people have seen to show us some progress being made in further research. It was amazing. He describes everything in great detail that you can understand, but he doesn't dumb it down too much either. I am happy about the prospect of more visits with him. He feels that there are a lot more options for me down the road, and that was a good thing to hear.

I still had not made a final decision until I saw my doctor today. She was very glad that he had something for me. She offered to help in any way she could either with blood work or prescribing something in case of fevers, etc. It was another good visit with her. I went back to tell my nurse, and I kind of felt like I had a winning lottery ticket or something. One person told me, "Congratulations." and my nurse said, "This is what we want for you!" She also told me she would be praying! I love her, and I will miss her a lot! So tomorrow, I will call and get my schedule to start possibly next week.

It was a good feeling to not get chemo today. I took advantage of my baby sitter and did some shopping while I was childless. Then I came home and dug in my garden awhile to plant some things dad had given me and rearrange a few things. It felt good to do some things like playing in the dirt that I know I couldn't have if I were on chemo. I will get to have lots of energy next week at the lake, and I know it will be a good time with lots of healing laughter and being surrounded with the beauty of God's creation.

So, as my dear friend Lisa says, even as she is now nearing the end of her life: "I am thankful for today."





Here are a couple of links to the trial if anyone is interested in that techinical kind of stuff:

Clinical trials site

U of M site