Hi All!

First off, I apologize for the gap between blogs. I hope to explain some of it now, but there is not a great excuse. I should be doing better at keeping everyone updated. I want you all to know how I'm doing!

I went down to MD Anderson on July 5 to meet with the GI Oncology Team and a Surgeon. It started off well, with the GI Oncologist talking about swinging for the fences, etc. Unfortnately, after having me get a new scan that evening, he wasn't so optomistic...

He met with me two days later to inform me that the Surgeon had an "emergency surgery" he had to go to, but that they had discussed my case and decided that I was not a candidate for Liver Resection, and would never be a candidate for Liver Resection.

It was my birthday, and I was devistated.... He did say that he thought I was tolerating my chemo really well and asked if I was willing to endure some more side effects, by adding a fourth cancer killing drug to the cocktail. Of course I said yes!

Best part of this trip was the Crawfish and the company I kept! Shout out to Kelly O'Donnel and Dean Chuang! Dean let me stay at his house! Also to my brother Greg who came down and hung out through the fourth of July in Galveston and went to my appointments with me! Love you guys! 

The next three months, I had a regiment of drugs commonly known as FolFoxIri. When the doctor mentioned additional side effects, he failed to mention that meant walking around like a zombie for the next three months. Honestly, those three months are cloudy.

Good news is, the regiment worked! We saw tremendous amounts of internal necrosis of the tumors (dead cancer inside), as well as shrinkage!

We decided to remove Oxaliplatin from the regiment after it's 10th cycle. Oxaliplatin causes the extreme neurothapy in my fingers and feet. They said that it is known to possibly cause permanent damage, if done more than 10 cycles, so we stopped.

I can tell you that after 6 weeks without it, my neuropathy is the worst it's been. I cannot feel my feet and it feels like what I imagine it would feel like to walk on stilts or with prosthetic feet. So I look like I'm a 95 year old walking around. Typing without being able to feel your finger tips is also a talent I've learned over the last few weeks.

Good news is that they say that the side effects are accumulative and that it should be the worst right now and get better soon.... I guess we'll see.

I've got some more updates on what's next, and will be posting about that soon!

Clint