I know a lot of you are awaiting the results from Ben's most recent CT scan, so here we go...
We arrived at the hospital for 10 o'clock this morning. Today was a chemo day, plus we had two doctors appointments scheduled. We try and do this regularly to check in with the doctors and make it easier on Ben rather than going back a forth multiple times a week. To our surprise his pain and symptom management doctor was away, however we still met with the nurse to discuss any changes Ben may be experiencing, which to date is none. We then met with Ben's oncologist, which was the most anticipated appointment today. Today we found out that Ben's CT scan showed an increase in lung lesions and an increase in liver lesions. Meaning the cancer has in fact grown and did not respond to Ben's second-line treatment. Just writing this I feel my heart breaking for a lot of you that were rooting Ben on. The news didn't come as a major surprise to Ben and I, but we were hoping for the best. Today Ben started his third-line treatment with a drug called Cetuximab (or Erbitux). This is the really expensive drug I had mentioned back in one of my older posts. OHIP does not cover the cost of this drug, nor does our private insurance group, however we were fortunate to find out that Ben was approved for funding to receive this drug. We had applied for this previously knowing that Ben may have to, at some point, try this drug. Well, here we are. Cetuximab comes with it's own side effects, things like severe acne, abnormal hair growth, severe diarrhea, muscle contractures etc.
I asked the hard question...what are the chances of this working? We were told it only holds a 20% chance of shrinking Ben's cancer. However if it is successful Ben could be on this treatment for awhile. We are obviously praying for the latter. The plus side? Ben no longer has to come home with a bottle of chemo attached to him for 48 hours, so showering whenever he wants is making him happy! His chemo schedule will stay the same, going bi-weekly for infusions, making our routine the same.
Today was a rough day. All that news plus Ben's first treatment with this new drug took over 5 1/2 hours! We left the hospital this evening at 6:45pm, arriving at 10am. It was a very long day for the both of us. We were told the first infusion would take the longest, but we didn't realize just how long it would be. Thankfully we have amazing family and neighbours who came to the rescue to help with the girls.
Although this wasn't the news we had prayed and hoped for, I think God is keeping Ben and I both calm and ready to conquer yet another part of this journey. If I give this all to God I feel calm and at peace. If I veer away from Him I become anxious and angry. I am trying really hard to remind myself to keep my eyes on Him to get through this next part of this path. I'm just not sure God is done with us yet.
<3 <3 <3
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