Duke Calls

Since Mike didn’t seem to be getting a whole lot better with his responses to questions and his eating has slowed down, he had yet another CT scan last night. I was afraid that it was going to show he was hemorrhaging or the swelling had grown, but the report read that things are the same as they were with his last scan on Saturday. The measurement was the exact same (6.8 centimeters including the swelling). It is taking what feels like forever to feed Mike. Last night it took him an hour to eat, and he only had a meat, two vegetables, and applesauce. It’s clearly taking a lot of effort for him to eat lately, so he hasn’t been eating quite as much. Anything soft (yogurt, mashed potatoes, etc.) goes down pretty quickly, but if he has to chew, it takes quite a while.

Dr. Desjardins from Duke called our doctor back today. (She’s the doctor we saw when we went for our regular clinical visit and was wonderful.) She reviewed the actual slides of Mike’s CT scan and was very pleased with how well he is doing. She thinks he is an excellent candidate for the Avastin, but she said it’s too risky for him to take it while he’s getting the radiation. Mike’s last radiation treatment is scheduled for March 24, but the radiation still has an effect even after the treatment is finished, so I’m not sure exactly when he will begin taking it. Avastin is taken only once every two or three weeks (depending on what the doctors decide is best). When we were at Duke, Dr. Desjardins told us it begins shrinking the tumor within 24 hours, though patients usually can’t tell a difference in how they feel for at least a week or two. In case you don’t remember, in 65% percent of patients who have taken Avastin, the tumor decreased in size by half. The other 35% had their tumors shrink by 20%-25%.