I felt fairly comfortable when went to see the doctor - we were taken into a regular clinic room. If we had gone into the "pretty" room I would have been more worried. And we found out what we already were sure we knew. Doctor Haider confirmed that the biopsy was positive for metastatic colorectal cancer, and that the cancer is progressing. He didn't seem to think that it is a result of the missed chemo in April or not taking oxaliplatin. He figures it has been there for a while – which is what we now think. We spent a lot of time thinking it was ligaments and cartilage as the pain was the same as a prior injury Callum had years ago. It all made sense to us! It likely comes as no surprise to any of you to hear that it is not really common for colorectal cancer to spread to the bone, and if it does, it usually appears in the back area, near the site of the original tumour. While it is not unheard of to have it in a distant site (ie. Limb), it is unusual. Callum continues his path of being unusual!
Callum will have his main chemo drug changed to Irinotecan (along with the 5FU and Leucovorin). The Irinotecan is the chemo drug he started with in May 2008, but with an all too early CT scan way back then, it was feared that he was resistant to it, so was switched to the Oxaliplatin. Doctor Haider is confident that this drug will help slow the progression of the cancer, and we hope it stabilizes it again. He starts this regimen June 29. We are waiting for the radiation appointment for treatment to the bone. It sounds like he will have something like 2 – 5 treatments, but we aren’t sure yet.
The tissue from the biopsy was checked for the KRAS mutation (one of those medical things) to see if he would be eligible for treatment with Vectibix, a biological agent that has been recently approved for funding in Saskatchewan and has shown to be helpful for people with advanced colorectal cancer. Unfortunately, he has the KRAS mutation, which means that particular treatment won’t work for him. On with the research!!
It was so nice to hear Doctor Haider say that even though at some point our hands are tied, as long as we have options he is prepared to fight this thing. What a great thing to hear and know he is supports our fight!
So, we continue to carry on for now and wait to see the results of the brain MRI and chest/abdomen/pelvis CT that were done today. Hopefully in a week or so we should have some results.
Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another. Walter Elliott
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