Cleve traveled down to L.A. this last wednesday to get his second round of medication. It was just a day trip since there were no scans scheduled. Dr. Hamid was pleased with Cleve's progress and a little disgusted by the looks of Cleve's legs. They took photos for documentation for the trial. Another little bit of news is that according to Dr. Hamid the drug will be going public in the next ten to fourteen days. This is both good news and bad news. Its good news because the medication works and now people can have access to it who otherwise could not. This is breakthrough stuff here folks.
Its bad news because once it goes public the study is closed and we are no longer a part of it. This means that Cleve will not receive the benefits of being a part of the study anymore. Once the study ends Cleve is able to have one more round of medication, then we pay for it which is about $120,000 a year. Insurance does cover a portion of it but it is still an amazing expense for a brand new medication. So, before all this happens Cleve is scheduled to go down to L.A. one more time to have a PET scan and an MRI covered under the study. At this time, we will see what size the tumors are, if they are still there, where they are at and he will be re-staged depending on the results. If there is any tumor left under his arm we will more than likely head down to MD Anderson in Houston again to have it resected and kept for future possible treatments made from the tumor (possible vaccines), and then we will more than likely radiate his sacrum to inhibit any melanoma cells growing and dividing there.
Dr. Hamid also expressed a desire for Cleve to still be an active patient of his. This means we will still go down to L.A., just not on a monthly basis. Just enough for the brilliant Dr. Hamid to keep an eye on him. He would like to do this because when eventually the medication stops working (this is the nature of the medication) The cancer cells will return rapidly and Dr. Hamid is keeping his eye on upcoming studies for Cleve's particular situation. This way we can act quickly instead taking another two months like we did last time looking for a place of treatment. We love this idea! In the mean time Cleve will continue seeing his wonderful oncologist here in Medford, Dr. Poisson. We are so lucky to have such wonderful doctors taking care of Cleve.
It is so nice to have some good news for once, especially with all of the heartache cancer is causing to families everywhere, especially little Faith Fulmer and Ethan Jostad here in Medford. These are two children who are victims of this evil disease, and unfortunately their battles are not going as well. They have become the face of childhood cancer here in Medford. They are incredibly strong children who have put up a heck of a fight and continue to do so. They are little miracle angels, and it is not fair for cancer to affect children. These are just two cases of childhood cancer but there are so many more that are not publicized. Im sure every person out there has been affected by cancer in some way, either directly or through family members and it is devastating. So next time you see one of those buckets from the american cancer society, or a store asks you to donate your change to the children's miracle network, please help out and donate so we can find a cure for this horrible disease that takes the lives of our loved ones. We need research, and the researchers need money to conduct their studies. Please help out in any way you can, even if you are donating your time, you are helping more people than you can imagine. I am including the links on facebook to the pages of Faith Fulmer and Ethan Jostad. Check them out and see just how incredibly brave these little ones are.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Team-Ethan-Jostad/138676326210436
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Faiths-Friends/120764287940176
If I have somehow copied and pasted wrong and you cant get to the pages just go to my page and you can find the links there from my info page.
No comments:
Post a Comment