Happy Holidays

• Tuesday, December 23, 2008 9:27 AM, CST
Happy Holidays to all of you. I originally planned to send out the link for this web page last month, but Michael and I chose to wait until we had more information from his doctor.
Yesterday Michael had a new MRI scan. Unfortunately the news was not what we wanted to hear. In spite of the ongoing treatment, the cancer has spread. For those who don't know about this type of tumor, Glioblastoma, you can remove a significant part of the tumor during the first surgery, but the tumor does have tentacles that are not always detectable. Eventually those do begin growing, which causes there to be other growths in various parts of the brain. This recent scan confirmed that this has occurred. The main symptom that has been evident for Michael has been an increase in small seizures. His doctor has added a secondary medication to help manage this symptom.
Given this recurrence, the next question is where do we go from here. The doctor would like to find a new clinical trial that Michael can consider, yet there are no appropriate trial openings at this time. His doctor feels that while the Avastin has not kept the tumor from growing, it has most likely slowed it down. For this reason, although Michael will no longer participate in the clinical trial, he will remain on the Avastin. Michael will also be given a change of chemotherapy. He will now begin taking Lomustine, known as CCNU. This is still a pill form of chemo, which we hope will also help stabilize the tumor.
Needless to say we have felt the emotional blow of this bad news. We feel wounded, but will persist in fighting this cancer. Please keep Michael in you thoughts and prayers. Please send him your supportive messages through this web page, and remember that we cherish all of you.
Love. Dan