LIVESTRONG CHALLENGE

On a more positive note, Kelden, Nick and I have decided to form a team and ride in the LIVESTRONG Challenge this October in honor of Kev.

The money raised funds the Lance Armstrong Foundation. LAF helps people with cancer focus on living. Their slogan - "We believe that unity is strength, knowledge is power and attitude is everything" pretty much sums it up. LAF has been a tremendous help to us providing both practical and inspirational information.

Most recently Cancer supporters here in TX united together to get a Cancer Bill successfully through the TX house and Senate which assures a public vote in Nov and offers Texans an opportunity to approve $3 billion in general obligation bonds that would provide $300 million a year for cancer research in Texas. This is especcially important for us since there currently is no cure or even a standard treatment for Malignant Melanoma. And there is a direct coorelation in cancer research between money and cures. All Kev's treatments now have the same goal - to keep the disease stabilized long enough for a cure to be found. Please join our team, or if you can not attend the Ride, please support the cause by donating to one of our team members. Links to join and to each members webpage can be found on the team page: http://austin07.livestrong.org/team_matterhorn

Join the fight - Take the Challenge!

MRI Results

Normally appts with the Neurologist these days are uneventful. He manages Kevs seizure activity and anti-convulsant meds. And since he has had no seizures since his brain surgery last August and his anti-convulsant meds hasn't changed since Dec (still taking 1000 mg Keppra twice daily) there is rarely anything to discuss when we meet. But today we had the new MRI results to look at since they weren't ready when we met with the Neurosurgeon on Tues. Unfortunately the results were not what we wanted to see. Kev has a new brain metastisis on his frontal lobe. It presently is only about 4mm and the Neurologist is not worried about new seizure activity since this part of the brain is not usually associated with seizures, but it does present other problems. For one, it pretty much disqulifies Kev from participating in any clinical trials for at least 6 months. In addtion, it's indicative the cancer is becoming more aggressive. Last time a brain metastisis appeared all other treatment stopped and the focus shifted to the brain. We meet with the oncologist on Friday and he is the one that will determine our next steps.

Tests

Today was a day of tests for Kev - MRI for the brain; CT Scan for chest, abdomen & pelvis; X-ray of chest; and blood draw. He also had an appt with the nuerosurgen to get his stitches removed in addition to a general check-up. Normally we get the MRI the day before meeting with nuerosurgeon so we can go over the results with him, but this time a scheduling glitch put both on the same day. However he does have an appt with his nuerologist on Wed so we get MRI results then. Friday is his appt with his oncologist and discuss which treatment options we should get started with.

Roman Holiday

Kev has really perked up this past week. It's been 3 weeks since he's had any chemo and most of the side effects are gone. His energy is back and even his facial hair is starting to grow. His meds are down to only the anti-convulsants and narcotics (pain killers). His next appointment is not until June 5 and since the kids get out of school Wednesday (5/23) we are going to escape reality and go to southern Italy for a couple weeks. This will be a very special trip for the four of us. Hopefully everything goes well.

Detour

Cycle 4 did not start on Wed and we are going to take a short respite of sorts. There are multiple reasons for this - Kev was wanting a break from the side effects that were worsening and his oncologist did not want him undergoing chemo if he was to have surgery. So he is chemo free until early June. There is however, a new twist. Since he was to have the tumor resection done, his oncologist mentioned a trial that NIH has been doing that Kev could qualify for. It's called Lymphodepletion Plus Adoptive Cell Transfer. It has two phases and basically goes like this: Phase I - the tumor that is removed will be used to grow T-cells (tumor fighting immune cells) in a lab. If the growth of the T-cells is successful, Kev gets to continue. Phase II begins with extracting stem cells from Kev's blood, then treating with chemothearpy to destroy his immune system. Then the specifically tailored T-cells will be infused back into his system. There is a lot more details , but for now we are waiting the 4-6 weeks to see if they can get his T-cells to grow.

Kev did have his surgery today (Friday). It went quite well. We arrived at pre-op at 5:30 am and left with one less tumor and 12 new stitches at 2:00 pm.