Travis had a great appointment with Dr. Viskochil today for the end of course 15 exam, of course good MRI news always helps. :) Overall Travis continues to look good and fairing well on the trial. Due to the time of Thursday's MRI, Travis' blood draw happened today. T ate his doughnut after the blood draw and then we headed upstairs for the exam.
Travis' left leg measurement showed he grew almost 2 cm in the past 3 months. To say it's tricky to get T's leg measurements can be an understatement some times. To get the left leg length, we have him bear weight on the left leg which is very uncomfortable even with us helping him stand. Dr. Viskochil and Travis played cars while Dr. "V" talked with Scott and I. Oh to have a video camera, especially catch T cheating in their races. Too funny. Travis cooperated during the exam and Dr. Viskochil seemed impressed that T informed us of his latest mouth sore (still there).
The local radiologist report stated no significant changes compared to T's October MRI. :) As before, the final determination of plexiform growth comes from the volumetric MRI analysis at the National Cancer Institute. So while the local report isn't the final answer, it is a step in the right direction. Let's hope the initial ruling isn't overturned by the volumetric analysis considering the football upon further reviews this season (had to add some humor).
We spoke with Dr. Viskochil regarding the normal end of trial time frame for Travis. As long as there remains no tumor progression for T on the trial, 9 4-week courses remain for Travis (ending mid-September). Our options for where to proceed IF we want to keep Travis on the medicine from that point depends on FDA approval of rapamycin for this use. Options for after the trial ends include letting T's body rest from the medicine (T would be followed closely no matter what...MRIs every 3 mo for a while), looking for another trial, using the same medicine or something completely different. We know a latest endpoint for Travis on this medicine providing nothing changes between now and then.
The blood work and labs that were in from this morning's blood draw came back looking good. The triglycerides were not in yet, we will hear if they are out of range.
We appreciate all the thoughts, prayers, and support. Emotional days for me, yet reflecting how far the Lord has taken us from making the decision to start the trial (even well before then too) to today. Some of you may have read news reports about Dr. McKinnon removing a huge NF tumor of a man in Vietnam. We contacted Dr. McKinnon in Aug '10 and sent him copies of Travis' first 2 MRIs. Dr. McKinnon (in Chicago) said he would be willing to take on Travis' case, but he would not be able to remove all of Travis' tumor. He said that he would have a vascular surgeon on standby if we decided to go a surgical route. I'm grateful we had options and we got to choose the path.
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