Quick Update

After a fun-filled weekend (which included a Lakers championship), it was back to the grind again this morning as my 2nd cycle of chemotherapy got underway. The weekend was especially nice because at the end of last week my doctor informed me that my tumor markers had declined - a sign that this treatment, at least in its initial stages, is proving to be effective.

Now, we've been in this situation countless times before. Several of my past treatments were effective early on but ended up falling short. So, I'm trying not to let myself get too worked up or excited. But it does feel very good to know I'm moving in the right direction again. I'm very thankful to God for that.

It was very difficult for me to summon the strength to get back on chemotherapy this time, knowing how critical it is that it be effective. Sometimes when my eyes open in the morning, I wonder why I am choosing to get out of bed. 'Just go back to sleep', I think to myself. 'When you're sleeping, you don't have to think about this stuff. You can dream about beaches and cupcakes and the dodgers in the world series.'

But I'm always quick to remind myself that I know better. I know that each new day is a blessing, and each new day I am one day closer to being well. Quitting is not an option for me now, nor will it ever be. Patience and perseverance will keep me on track.

Since I haven't yet explained exactly why I'm back on treatment, or what I am taking, I will do that now. After my lung surgery to remove a single tumor in early April, we were hoping that my tumor markers would normalize and my scans would be clean. That did not happen. My markers remained elevated and were rising, while scans showed new spots developing.

As you can probably imagine, this was about as bad as it gets. What made matters worse is that my doctors, the best doctors in the world for my disease, were out of solid ideas. Their confidence was slipping.

They suggested I turn to a private medical lab in Los Angeles, where they do a special form of lab testing called chemosensitivity testing.

Chemosensitivity testing is a process where a sample of your tumor(in my case, a sample of the lung tumor which was removed during my surgery) is taken to a lab where all the approved cancer drugs are tested against it to see which drugs are most effective and which are least effective. The major benefit is that, since the tissue is literally taken from your own body, it's truly an individualized treatment approach. The major drawback is that lab results don't always carry over to the body.

The results of this test revealed a cocktail of medicines I had never tried before which might be effective in killing my cancer. There is no clinical data to back up using this combination on me - its based on lab testing and theoretical ideas. But it's safe, it's possible to do, and it's the best idea we have.

I will continue to post updates on the progress of this treatment as it unfolds. In the meantime, be well...