Unfortunately I have some new activity with my tumor. It appears I have new growth at my primary site, but it is minor to date. The past two months I have undergone MRI's, an MR Spectroscopy, and a PET scan to ascertain exactly what is happening. It seems my Grade 2 Oligo is starting to take on some Grade 3 Astro characteristics as well.

So more treatment is not "if" it’s "when". The current plan is to look at it again in 3 months to measure rate of growth. I have no new symptoms (other than what they picked up on the scans) and the growth isn't toward my motor strip or optical nerve, so we have time to decide on the right treatment. Right now the options look like either PCV or Temodar chemotherapy or Proton Beam Therapy. Why don't they get some marketing guys in to help name the chemo drugs? PCV could be called "Powerful Crystals with Vigor"" and Temodar could be "Tremendous Twelve" or something like that. Anyway, if Proton is the direction I will be spending some time either at Harvard or Loma Linda California, as they are the only two places to do it. Boy do I feel important that I would have a Synchrotron Linear Accelerator create protons just for me.

I just got a call from the lawyers at Perkins Restaurant. They said I couldn’t use the name Tremendous Twelve (or 6,8,10, or 14) for a chemo drug as they have them trademarked for their breakfast specials.

Best wishes -

Jim