Friday, February 6, 2009

That Timmy Can Be A Real Jerk

Everyone,

It has been over a year. A year filled with good and bad scans, but an amazing year for Dallas in any case. He did really well in school in the Spring and Fall of '08, went to the Keys on a week long vacation over Christmas, got to see the the Gators win another National Championship game in Miami this January and was able to spend a week with his favorite sister in DC this past summer. Oh to be 20 again.

So, on to the Timmy update:

As most of you know, December's MRI showed a reduction in the size of the tumor which meant it was positively reacting to his current Chemo regimen of Avastin/CPT-11. Even his Neurological Oncologist, Dr. Smith, was pleasantly surprised.

Dallas' MRI Tuesday, February 3rd, however, was not so good. He has at least 2 new areas in the temporal lobe (Google it because I'll butcher any explanation) where tumor cells have migrated by way of white matter pathways from the original tumor site. Dr. Smith stopped all treatment Tuesday (he did not get his scheduled Avastin/CPT-11 infusion nor did he start his monthly dose of Temodar) while we search for a new treatment plan. Dr. Smith is going to talk with Dr. Friedman (Duke) and Dr. Fine (NCI) today as well as with another doctor at MD Andersen to see what their recommendations are for a new treatment and how to proceed.

Meanwhile, Dallas remains without symptoms.....in fact, he seems better than ever. Needless to say, we were all fairly shocked to find that Timmy wasn't going to continue to cooperate.

Hopefully, these amazing doctors will find a new path for us to travel and Dallas will continue to live a full life beyond the constraints Timmy layed out for him more than 2 years ago.

That's all for now. I'll try and keep you all updated over the next week or so as more news becomes available.

Love,

Jessie

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