We had another MRI scan today and it appears that there was no change from the last one two months ago. That is good, but still not what I hoped to see on the scan images, which is regression. I had "hard" chemo (CPT11, Navelbine & Avastin). I wasn't feeling good after the CPT11. We might stop using Avastin for a while, but we won't make that decision just yet. My physician recently attended a conference on the use of Avastin and some physicians are questioning whether it is appropriate for continuous use.
When there is diffuse tumor progression, like we saw two months ago, the tumor cells are piggybacking the blood supply of healthy cells. The hypothesis is that perhaps if the patient stopped receiving Avastin for a while, the tumor cells would develop their own blood supply and once that took place, chemo might be more effective against the tumor. It is a concept that hasn't been tested.
I hope you had a Merry Christmas! I did.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
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3 comments:
Hi Russell, I found you on the web, my name is Mary Anne, and my brother has glioblastoma as well. I love reading your blog because your situation and my brother's is very similar! You are even taking the same drugs. He has been on an avastin drug trial with Duke for almost 3 years now. He had to stop taking it because he had appendicitis last year, and it was terrible. They weren't sure if it was the avastin that caused it. Now, he has been having a hard time with seizures right now. He had a big one a week ago and is now having several small ones. Ugh. I feel so terrible and helpless.
I am so glad to have found your blog and will keep following you. I hope you and your family are having a nice year so far.
MAry Anne
Hi, I'm new to your blog. It's great to see that things are stable, good luck going forward.
Best,
Hua
healthcentral.com
I was looking up blogs from people living with Brain tumors and i came across you :-)
My husband was recently diagnosed with a tumor and has his first biopsy in 2 weeks...surgery isn't an option, so I'm reading up on other peoples experiences throughout these types of situations. I am trying to read your story from the beginning but I'm still just in 2004.
i hope that you continue blogging.
kristin
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