Another update,

Received the second infusion of the two medicines last Friday and so far, so good. There are some potentially dangerous side-effects but up to this point I have escaped them (touch wood). The biggest fear is debilitating, dehydrating diarrhea which can hit up to about 50% of patients. Nice to be on the right side of a coin flip for a change .

I did have a terrible couple of weeks of nausea, perhaps due to radiation, perhaps due to the treatment - no one is really sure. I was unable to eat or hold down anything for about half of the last two weeks. Fortunately, through much experimentation, they seem to have hit on a good combination that is working.

I will warn you all, however, that the fatigue associated with this treatment, at least for me, is pretty staggering. I need a nap after doing almost anything and I think I could pretty easily sleep/doze/zone for about 20 hours every day. They are working on that, as well.

Additionally, although this may be unique to me, there has been associated a terrible loss of appetite - it is hard to motivate myself to eat - it's like a job.

So....

There is the update. Things are otherwise fine. We get a scan in four weeks and that will be our first of two markers - if I do not show response by the second one, I'm off of the trial so let's all please keep our fingers crossed for me unless you really don't like me in which case I would ask that you not actively root against me .

I hope everyone else is faring well, or at least as well as can be hoped.

Good luck to us all - remember - we must keep fighting if ever we can. I have had days where I forget that, so sick am I, but I have such a great friend to always remind me - yeah, you guessed - my wonderful wife. No matter how low I get, she manages to find just a bit more energy and encouragement to feed back into the system.

Cheers, all!

The Hellion