Okay okay...so this is my latest update. Oddly though, I don't really visit blogger that much any more, which is definitely a good thing considering that it's just because this brain cancer battle is going so well. I mean to be on three different chemotherapeutic drugs and have your own doctor say that after 9 months, "you don't even look like you're on chemo." I'm pretty happy with the current state of affairs...not to mention lucky that I'm so young and my body can brush most of this junk aside.
I just returned from a checkup at Duke, and after this much time, I was prepared to get the bad news. You know how it goes, "Oh we're so sorry, but it appears that the tumor has stopped responding to the chemo and has started slowly taking over your brain...again!" (Ugh). But alas, this scenario has been staved off for yet another 2 months (and hopefully maybe never again.)
The doctor came in to my room glowing and for that I'm just ecstatic. She said something about how I can't be included in the Polio virus immunotherapy trial at Duke due to too many operations, a shunt that could potentially transfer it into my abdominal cavity, and generally a less-than-acceptable blood-brain barrier. She said she'd fight for me though, because apparently, this trial has seen some great results. So for all of you patients looking for a potential curative agent (I'm pretty sure we can all agree that's everyone with any of the copious varieties of brain tumors). I do believe though, that all we can say is that this should be an interesting experiment to watch, and (hopefully) I can get myself in on it.
We will see though. I do hope that I can rid myself of the brain tumor, this time, with this medication. Then as far as I can tell, hopefully there will be yet another treatment out that that will get just a little closer to causing the tumor to retreat. This is all I can hope for. Because, though I know that I'm saying a proverbial quote here, but without health, where is life?
