[chrisy]

Hello friends,
I just had my 6 week scan (Pet/CT) and the results are NO new little nasties and the 2 lesions in my liver are EXACTLY stable. Dr. Rugo called that a "GOOD SCAN" and although I would have loved to have had it all miraculously disappear, I am happy to say it looks like the Tykerb/Avastin has the CANCER STOPPED DEAD IN IT'S TRACKS!

Considering that it is not chemo, Dr. Rugo said she thought it was early to expect shrinkage as the lesions have a structure of their own. As a very wise person once told me, if your oncologist is happy, you should be happy! So I will continue on the trial, next scans will be in another 6 weeks. I'll be hoping for even better news then.

For those interested in side effects, I pretty much sat there saying, "nope, nope, nope..." to the list of various symptoms attributable to these agents. This combination is very tolerable.

I have a pattern of, well, needing to be near a bathroom 1.25 hours after taking the Tykerb, but then that's it usually. Lucky for me there's a nice rest stop in exactly the right location on my 1 1/2 hour drive to UCSF!

The pimply rash I had at first is no more, and the main concern now is to watch my blood pressure, as Avastin can elevate this. I monitor it daily (ok, sometimes I obsess and monitor it every 10 minutes) and so far it is not in the danger zone although it does spike in the am. Who knows, maybe it always did this!

One more thing, as I told you earlier, I was number 6 of 6 in this trial at UCSF, but they have now been approved for 15 - so come on in, the water's fine!

Much love
Chris