As usual, it has been a while since the last update. I've had it on my mind constantly that I need to do this, and I'm sorry if any of you have been wondering "what's going on?"

Anyways, the last month and a half have been stressful at times, but uneventful. Erica had a "check up" CT Scan to see how her current chemo treatments (Cyramza and Taxol) are working. This was done on October 31. The results were that the tumors on her liver seem to be shrinking a little bit, but the tumors in her lungs have grown a little bit; her stomach was unchanged. So ... after talking with the doctor, we all agreed to keep with those drugs, but he let us know that she would not be able to stay on them much longer, because it is a given that Taxol tends to be very harsh and eventually the damage would outweigh the benefits.

So ... we started into another 3-week cycle of that therapy. Unfortunately, the 2nd week had her platelets too low, so the doctor would not approve to the therapy that week, and he slid everything back an extra week. She made it through the 2nd week's treatment during the 3rd week, and the 3rd week's treatment during the 4th week. During this time, it was obvious that Erica was getting weaker and weaker.

We've been worrying and getting scared that the cancer seems to be held back, but her body is getting torn up by the chemotherapy. Over the past couple months, she has been getting weaker, she can't think straight often, she's been starting to retain fluids in her abdomen; and in the last 2 weeks, she's needed her wheelchair almost all of the time.

We already had an appointment with her other doctor over at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa during her week break before what would have been her next 3-week cycle. During that time, I performed some research and talked to various people; then Erica and I agreed that we were going to ask for a full month break from the treatments to give her body more chance to recover. In addition, we need to discuss the doctor's recommended continued treatment, because we feel that Taxol has run it's course with Erica and she's not going to be able to continue it. This is the same doctor that is trying to get Erica into a Immunotherapy treatment with Opdivo, so we're thinking that might be what we'll move her over to. Finally, there was a new "miracle" drug for cancer patients called Vitrakvi approved by the FDA in the last couple weeks, and we want to know the possibility of Erica qualifying (https://www.cancer.org/latest-news/fda-approves-vitrakvi-larotrectinib-for-tumors-with-certain-genetic-change.html).

The appointment went very good ... the results were exactly what we wanted:
1) Yes, the doctor agreed that she should definitely take the month off. The only scary thing about this is that the doctor implied that if her body still does not recover, it is the cancer that is causing her issues (weakness, etc... that I list above) and not the chemotherapy. If it is the cancer, then this would be a very bad sign.
2) When starting chemotherapy back up, we should completely stop the Taxol and do Cyramza only. This is a standard maintenance step
3) Yes, the doctor wants her tested for the possibility of taking the new drug, Vitrakvi. This requires some testing on the biopsy they took from Erica's liver back in November 2017, and some more blood tests. These will be done by her local doctor.
4) The doctor has been able to get Erica preliminary approval for a Immunotherapy trial that includes two different Immunotherapy drugs. They just recently opened this trial for Gastric Cancer patients, so they really need participants with Erica's type of cancer. There are some definite hoops to jump through to get final approval, but we feel that this has promise. For anybody that is interested, this is the trial (https://ir.nektar.com/news-releases/news-release-details/preliminary-data-nktr-214-combination-opdivo-nivolumab-patients).

Yesterday, Erica had an appt with her local doctor, and he agrees with everything that we discussed with the doctor over at Moffitt. He immediately ordered the tests for the new drug. It takes about 2-3 weeks to get the results, which we are hoping to get a nice Christmas present with a positive result; and he 100% agrees that the recommended trial would be the best thing for Erica right now.

For the foreseeable future, Erica has fluid and possible steroid treatments every other day for the next couple weeks. They are not required, but might help her body recover. Unfortunately, they could also cause some of the fluid retention issues that she's been having. She plans on making the decision to have (or not) the treatment on each given day.

This will probably be my last post this year, so we'd like to wish each and every one of you a safe and happy holiday season. Merry Christmas to all, Happy New Year, and everything else ...

Please pray for Erica's recovery during this break from therapy, and for positive results for this new drug.