Keep on fightin...

Sorry it has been so long between updates, and yes everything is fine, thanks for the concern. The real news around these parts is that there is another clinical trial possibility out there. This one is for another pathway blocker in a class of drugs known as tyrosine kinase receptor inhibitors. It targets FGFR1 (fibroblast growth factor inhibitor) and FGF2 and it's called TKI-258 (Dovitinib), created by Novartis. Believe it or not, it has actually worked in a salivary gland cancer patient. Now this patient had a different tumor type than I, but at least it's in the same family for Pete's Sake! I found out about the trial through Dr. Colevas at Stanford. I love the fact that he is thinking about me. The challenge with this trial is location. It is being run at UCLA by a Dr. Britten. I got the call from Dr. Colevas last Thursday, and within an hour, I had an appointment set up the following Tuesday with Dr. Britten. Of course, there is only one slot left, and this trial is highly coveted because previous trials have shown some great success in kidney cancer. Because this particular trial is testing the drugs interaction with food, it is taking all solid tumor types (that's me). Call me Mr. Random Solid Tumor Type. So cut to the chase. Yesterday, I jump on a plane at 6:45 and fly down to LA. On a whim, I ask my business partner and great friend Brian Levy (who lives in LA) if he happens to be free that day. Without reservation he tells me that he will pick me up at the airport, go with me to my appointment, and take me back to the airport for my flight home. I can't even begin to tell you how lucky I am to have that kind of support. It is always great to have another set of ears and a solid shoulder to lean on when going to these appointments. We arrive at 10:30 for our appointment with Dr. Britten. She seems like a great doctor, we had a very nice rapport, and she thinks I will be a good candidate for the trial. If my tumor had expressed a couple of more markers (primarily BRAF and MYB) then I would be perfect, but they don't, but oh well, there's still a chance it could work. We learned about the trial, the lovely side effects, and all that it entails. Bottom line is that for the first 60 days I will be spending a lot of time in LA. I still have to pass some preliminary tests first, and be formally accepted, but I will be pursuing those next steps. There goes the summer!! Small price to pay for a possible solution. Logistics are going to be a little complicated, but we will figure it out.

What else is going on? Well, we finally moved into our new house in Queen Anne. The move was uh......enough said. Let's just say we are not moving again, you heard it here folks!! Thank god for Jennie's mom, who spent those two weeks with us moving in.....no way we would have been able to do it without her, absolutely no way. Chartie is doing great. Loves her new house, and all her space. Getting her stuff back from Concord was like Christmas all over again for her. We have decided to give her the entire basement for her play room (I passed up the opportunity for a man cave). We are still hoping for some more sun around here, have had a little tease, but they say it comes to stay around early July. Please come soon sun. We also had a wonderful visit from our cousins the Bartlett's a few weeks ago. All 3 boys and Shannon and Peter came for 5 incredible days. We had so much fun just hanging out together. We played tourists. Climbed the Space Needle, went on a boat cruise, the Science Center, the Air and Space Museum, did it all. We even had a couple of days of great weather. It was so great to see all the kids interact. They really loved being together and totally looked out for each other. It warms my heart to know that Charlotte will always have "her boys" to take care of her, and we are going to work very hard to maintain those bonds.

It would be really easy to just pass on this trial, and last night at midnight as Jen and I were melting down at the logistics involved we almost threw in the towel. Jen had a flight to New York at the crack of dawn this morning and she hadn't even started to pack. Charlotte had face planted earlier in the day and had raspberry burns all over her body, and at midnight she started to cry and wanted to climb into bed with us. I was beyond exhaustion from my long day in LA. I can't even remember what time I finally closed my eyes, but when I woke up this morning, Jen was gone, and all that was left was a note that said......"l stole 80 bucks, I lub you, and we will figure this out". God I love her. We are not going to give up without a fight. Look out cancer.

xo, The Dougherty's