Good News/Bad News

The good news is that Mark will not have to endure any more of the Interleukin-2 treatments. They were definitely not a cakewalk! 

The bad news is that now there are two active tumors--one in the liver and another in the pancreas. 

We knew something wasn’t right about a week ago when Mark slept for 15 hours and was still fatigued. The pain in his abdomen seemed to be increasing, as well. On Tuesday, Mark called Dr. Taylor, who wanted the PET scan as soon as possible. The scan was yesterday, and this morning we had a virtual appointment with Dr. Taylor. He showed us the scan. The tumor in the pancreas is relatively small, but the one in the liver has grown. No other tumors were evident in the scan, although an MRI will be scheduled to check his brain. 

Dr. Taylor met with Dr. Urba today to discuss the next best treatment options. There is another possible treatment that could have durable results, but it’s a long shot. The first step is to harvest T-cells from Mark’s body. It’s about a 4-hour process of having his blood flow through a machine that will pull out the T-cells and return the rest of the blood to his body. (It’s kind of like giving platelets.) These T-cells will be carefully studied a few at a time in Petri dishes to identify any T-cells that recognize cancer cells. It’s a long, laborious process, but if a T-cell is found that identifies the enemy, it can be reproduced in mass and returned to his body. Mark likes to call this treatment “The Clone Wars.”  The cloned T-cells are sent to battle to destroy the cancerous cells. Unfortunately, finding the correct type of T-cell is like finding a needle in a haystack, but it has great potential to fight cancer if one is found. This is a lengthy process, so something else must be done as soon as possible.

Radiation will be used to shrink the tumors quickly. Along with that, Mark will go back on Ketruda. This immunotherapy treatment worked well before, but it was not durable. Tumors grew after he went off of it. It may be effective again in shrinking or even eliminating the tumors, but we don’t know how long it will be effective. This time he will stay on it as long as it is working. 

There are always clinical trials in process. Fortunately, those done at Providence Portland Cancer Center do NOT use placebos. Dr. Taylor will begin researching any that could potentially be used in Mark’s situation.

Dr. Urba once said that while we may not have a cure, we can keep kicking the can down the road as long as possible. That’s what we’ve done for 9 1/2 years, so we will keep on kicking the can (hopefully not the bucket!!)

While we may make jokes, this has been harder on us than we had expected. Your continued faith, prayers, love, and support are so appreciated.