Update

Spent Tuesday night through Friday noon down at MD Anderson again. Here is the scoop on the latest info.

Had more scans done. That headache that I have been having turned out to be nothing more than that. Head and neck scan showed all clear. That is a big victory. Didn't want the noma spreading to my brain.

Scan of chest showed the primary tumor did grow, but only a tiny bit. Probably in the neighborhood of 2mm. Not much at all and pretty impressive since my last round of chemo was in July. The size of that primary tumor is still about 50% less than when they first discovered it. The other little bit of good info on that was that the growth occurred away from the lungs and sensitive organs. The smaller secondary tumor next to it stayed the same size. So while you don't like to hear the word growth, overall my body seems to be doing pretty well on slowing the progression of the tumor.

Update on the clinical trial that I mentioned in an earlier blog: still waiting to hear if I get accepted, but my doc told me not to hold my breath. The odds on me getting in are very small. He did want to start me on this other phase 1 clinical trial. I don't have much info on this trial other than I go back down in two weeks and if my white blood count is high enough, I could start right then and there. It is very early in the trial for this drug and basically how it works is that I will try it and get tested right away. If it holds the tumor size or decreases it then I keep going on it. If I have bad side effects or the tumor starts to grow then I stop the drug. Not real complicated. The nice thing is that it is a pill. So no more needles.

Right now I am in some pain. Not really sure of the cause but just not feeling the best. Trying to take it easy and choke some food down to keep my weight stable. I am going to get another blood transfusion here again in the near future. Still a bit low.