Monday, December 15, 2008
Gleevec: Anecdote
My doctor has a patient who was ravaged by melanoma. The woman had reacted badly to many of her treatments and had reached the end of her rope. She entered hospice, where she expected to last out the rest of her life in relative comfort.
My doctor noticed that this woman’s melanoma had started in moist lesions, but initial suggestions to try Gleevec met with resistance. The woman was convinced her time was up and didn’t want to go through the pain of more experimentation. My doctor, however, prevailed, and the woman started taking Gleevec.
Several weeks later, the woman reports that she is back on the treadmill, back on the tennis court; and best of all, she’s been kicked out of hospice! She knows she’s getting better because her kids don’t call anymore.
Lately I've been thoroughly consumed by pain management and exhaustion management. It finally hit me this weekend, there's one outstanding question: will I respond to the drug? There will be anxiety in this household until I get an answer to that. But in the meantime, I do know that Gleevec is capable of miracles.
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11 comments:
Here's hoping for your Gleevec miracle! Love, Doug
Thank you Doug! I treasure the good thoughts that come my way.
I love this line in your story: "She knows she’s getting better because her kids don’t call anymore."
Sending good thoughts up there that Gleevec will work for you.
Everyone laughs when they hear that. But it's true. When you're not quite as worried, you don't have to be quite as vigilant.
More good wishes and prayers from the mitten. Been thinking of you daily and look forward to hearing how well Gleevec works for you.
Thank you Rick.
I've had some good moments since last week, but so far, nothing conclusive. It's too soon.
Love you all!
Ceil
A big hug (and miracle wishes) comes your way from the left coast too, Ceil!
Thank you Dan. Thanks for checking in!
Ceil, I just caught up on the last 5 or six posts. Just the frequency with with you've written seems like a good sign, not to mention the upbeat tempo within each post. I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Gleevec progress and I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Hi Steve. I had some good energy through the weekend and got a lot of that information posted to share with all of you. My situation is very mixed though nd unfortunately, I've crashed pretty hard since then. I'm quite uncomfortable right now, and the wait to see if I'm a genetic match only adds to it.
Time...
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