Bad news becomes great news

As you recall from my previous blog, I had mentioned how wonderful the brain tumor was doing, which I would say was pretty bad news. I had also mentioned that I got a surprise e-mail last Monday, in which I was holding out on everybody just in case it fell through. Well, as you might have guessed by the title, something really good has happened. When I first found out about my condition in early February, I had gotten several e-mails from people who saw a new treatment on one of those CBS health channels relating to the type of brain cancer I had. Being the proactive person that I am, I immediately e-mailed and phoned the three contact people that they had listed for this study. I was fortunate that one of the three replied to me. At that time, she explained the guidelines for getting into the trial in which I did not qualify. They were looking for people who had already gone through a minimum of six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation therapy, plus after all that, the tumor must still be progressing. So obviously, I had to wait until I had an MRI done on May 5, in which I got the news that the tumor was spreading. So when I called and e-mailed after I got the results, I was informed that the clinical trials were closed as of last week and that I would have to wait until the FDA approved the procedure to get this done. That was something that I really did want to hear. But because I kept in constant contact by phone and e-mail, plus I gave her my blog info, I was one easy person to remember. So on that last Monday when I said there may be a surprise, it was because she contacted me, saying that someone dropped out so that there was one opening left so she gave me first crack at it. Oh by the way, I said yes.

From that Monday when I found out to that Friday before Memorial Day weekend, it was a long week of being on the phone and e-mailing to make sure all my records were transferred over to the other hospital. It was amazing on how difficult this was. I had two wonderful people working for me out of each hospital who really put a lot of time and effort into making sure all the information was forwarded but the world of computers were trying to sabotage me. From Tuesday through Thursday the info was e-mailed numerous times but wasn't getting through due to hospital firewalls, and data size and who else knows what. So we had to go back to using the old fax machine, but that didn't help get the MRI info over there. So we had to FedEx the MRI discs which were overnighted last Thursday so they could review them on Friday to see if I qualified based on the size and growth of the tumor. Of course I got a call about three in the afternoon saying she didn't receive the package yet and needed the routing number. They found the package about 3 PM and she rushed it to the doctor who immediately examined and measured the MRI's, and that is when I finally got the news that based off the info they had so far, that I would be an excellent candidate. Boy, when I finally got the news, I was as giddy as a young boy who accidentally saw his first boobe. It took me several hours to wind down.

I'm flying out to Cleveland on Memorial Day at about 5:30 PM and will have some preliminary testing done on Tuesday and Wednesday. The only thing that can prevent this from happening now is if the new MRI that they take on Tuesday shows that the tumor has grown beyond the scope of the study. But hopefully, since it will only be three weeks from the previous MRI that this will not be the case. If everything goes according to plan, I will have the procedure done on Thursday or Friday of this week, depending on how fast they fly in their team that does this procedure. Recovery time is minimal and hope to be back by the following Monday.

I have to admit, this is the first time that I have had a craving to visit Cleveland, but I think it will become my kind of town.

If anyone wants more information on what the procedure is all about, the website is www.monteris.com and the procedure is called autolitt.

POGO