Last Friday Mark had a CT scan and today we met with Dr. Walter Urba. First he had us summarize the amazing history of Mark's cancer with an assistant. Dr. Urba specifically asked Mark to tell her about how fast these drugs worked in alleviating the pain this past March. It was literally less than two hours. We asked how that was even possible. Dr. Urba shrugged his shoulders and had no answer, then he started humming the tune to the twilight zone. Another miracle?
Next we looked at the scans. While there are still tumors in his liver, they are definitely smaller, as is the large one next to his spleen. That is great news -- the meds are doing their job! These drugs are not a cure, but they have been very successful in shrinking Mark's tumors. Eventually, the cancer figures out a way around this therapy so it is not a long term solution. Dr. Urba's initial plan is to have Mark stay on these drugs for 1-3 months before starting the immunotherapy drugs. Dr. Urba will meet with Dr. Curti in the next few days to discuss which immunotherapy drugs to use in the next round of treatments and when he thinks we should start. We'll know more in a few days. Mark has almost no side effects with these drugs, so for now we can continue with life as normal -- maybe even do a bit more travel!
Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!!
