Update

So, I at last had that visit with Dr. Mulcahy at Northwestern, on Wednesday, March 3. I returned the following day for CT scans and ultra-sounds -- the CT scans in order to get a basline on my status prior to any new treatments, and the ultra-sounds to look into some swelling I was seeing in my left and right legs. The past several weeks I'd been suffering through some serious swelling in both legs, the source of which was unclear. I would prop my legs up over-night, to relieve the swelling, but it kept getting worse and worse. So it seems we've got a blood clot in my right leg...nothing appears in the left, though I suppose something could be there none-the-less. They put me on two drugs: first, a drug called Lasix, to help push the the fluids through my system. And then another called Lovenox, a 2x-per-day shot I give myself. This acts as a blood thinner and helps dissolve the blood and pass the clot. Hopefully (and I see some evidence for this already) the swelling on my legs will go down quickly.

On Wednesday, March 19 I begin chemo once again. I am going to be on a 3 drug regimen -- irinotecan plus erbitux (a chemo plus anti-body combo which I have had before) along with with avastin. Avastin is another antibody, which aids in stopping the tumors from calling new blood supplies to themselves. I've had this before, back in '04. They say that even as one or two parts of the combo starts to fail, it often happens that the combo together somehow acts stronger than the some of its parts to fights against the cancer. Let's hope so this time around. At least, for me -- I'd stopped using the irinotecan plus erbitux last March.

All the best to my faithful readers...I hope to be better about posting updates in the future.