January 2016

It has been two months since I have been home from Germany. We had a lovely Christmas in Maui with Carl’s family, which was just what I needed. Sun, surf and sand. Glorious!

I waited about 3 weeks from the time that I left Germany to get a follow up scan. That was less time than Dr. Weber had requested but I was anxious. The results with these treatments are not instantaneous by any means and the good doctor had asked me to wait six weeks for my next scan.

Anthony accompanied me to my appointment and we went back to AIM again, which is where I had the original scan back in November. It is important to scan using the same machine and the same technician because you want the same set of eyes looking at the images produced by the same machine.

I was nervous to get these results. What if there is no improvement? What then? Have I exhausted my options in terms of treatment? I have put all of my hope in Germany and what I know that it did for Kelly. Will I be so lucky?

After the scan, Carl and I are trying to be patient. Anthony comes out with tears in his eyes and the biggest smile. Dr. Kirkpatrick welcomes us in and before he speaks about my results, he asks what I have been doing in terms of treatment. I run down the list of the zillion supplements that I am taking, the twice weekly vitamin IVs and noting that the only allopathic drugs are Letrezole (which I have been told is not working) and Buserelin which I received in Germany. He looks a bit puzzled. He starts to review the scans with me. My liver tumours have decreased in size by 30%! And most of the tumours have decreased in visibility which means that they are responding to treatment. In a BIG way!! Getting this news right before our trip is such an amazing relief. This is the first time that I have EVER received good news in relation to cancer. For the first time, I know with certainly that I am on the right path. A-freakin’-mazing! Time to happy dance.

When I returned from Christmas break, I had a regular blood panel test done. I also noticed that I had some edema in my ankles which is an indication that something is amiss. When the body is struggling with an issue, the body becomes inflamed. My blood test produced some scary results. My ferritin level was over 2700 (indicating my liver is in distress) and my LDH level was almost 1200 (indicating major inflammation in the body). Uh-oh, we have a problem.

It has only been three weeks and I am back at AIM for another scan. This time I am really scared. The cancer highway has a lot of switchbacks on it. The direction can change in an instant. Both Dr. Sanjay and Anthony are concerned that my liver is struggling but it could also be a good thing. It is possible that my liver is cleaning up. The MRI shows that my liver is fine. It also shows that the tumours continue to decrease in size and visibility. There are also fewer tumours in my liver. My body is destroying tumours quickly and the jump in ferritin and LDH are a result of the liver taking care of business. More good news. The treatments from Germany continue to work.

Second time with GREAT news. Clearly, I am onto something.

- Kim

Tumour Marker CA-15-3 = 52
Tumour Marker CEA = 2.0