November 28, 2012

To quickly update those of you who haven't yet heard...Ken's last MRI was a little off schedule. Due to hurricane Sandy, we were unable to get into the city for his 4-week MRI. We had to reschedule, then actually ended up having the MRI done locally, and sending it in to be read at Sloan-Kettering, which was a lengthier process. The day before Thanksgiving we did get a call from one of the Doctors (Ken's usual doctor was out of town) saying that the spot they had been watching had, in fact, grown. Today, we did go into New York and met with Dr. Mellinghoff and were able to go over the scans. In brief, the cancer has returned. Currently, it is very small...about the size of a pea. The change from last month is not dramatic, but there is growth. So, as we had all previously discussed, we are likely going to try another clinical trial. Dr. Mellinghoff is going to forward the latest scan to Dr. Wen at Dana Farber, as we are very interested in a clinical trial there involving GDC-0084. Trials open and close at different institutions all the time, so he is also consulting with colleagues at Columbia, NYU, and Yale to see what else is available that may be fitting for Ken's situation. Beyond that, there is the option of Avastin + radiation, and also at some point he will seek the involvement of Dr. Gutin to discuss surgical intervention. The good news is that because it is still so small we do have some time to explore options. We should know more about the available trials next week. While we knew that the cancer would return, we had really hoped that it wouldn't be this soon. We are, of course, so saddened and upset...but we are also so grateful for the support of our friends and family. Despite this setback we really look forward to enjoying the holiday season with each other, our children and those who mean most to us. I will post more next week when we have further details.