Scan update

We finally got to meet Evan Anthony on April 20th.  Nobody thought about Dad or his circulating tumor burden.  We're getting pretty used to everything being just fine.  We're going to be struck hard when the piano falls out of the skyscraper.  We're not even looking up- just beebopping along reading another scan report of continued regression.   

We ( well really just me) have researched the next drug we want when Avastin and Interferon cease to hold off angiogenesis.  Since Dad has been such a good responder to VEGF( that's a protein that encourages angiogenesis) inhibiting drugs ( Sutent, Avastin), we ( um, me and some google contributors) assume that we should continue with that class of drugs when need be.  There is a new VEGF inhibitor on the market called Inlyta that is winning clinical trials against Nexavar.  Her trials showed an effectiveness right up there with Sutent but with fewer side effects.

We have a cosmic internet connection with a young(er) man with RCC and his family.  He's got ties to Arkansas and cracks up my coconut with his sharp repartee on his cancer. He has enrolled in a IL-15 trial
at the NIH and is only the 13th human to be injected with the voodoo we hope will spark his immune system into killing his RCC.   Where Dad views RCC as his chronic condition that he has been so very lucky to manage effectively thus far, Chris and his wife, Dena are fighting a different battle.  I'd give them fist bumps for their aggressive pursuit of a cure if our interweb connection ever materialized into  reality.

I think of them every time we get a report of continued stability.  They have children the ages of mine.  They have no choice but to be as aggressive as possible, and they are awesome at it.  Perhaps Chris' ( that's probably an apostrophe error as the conundrum of apostrophes for words with an s on the end still makes me nervy) enrollment in the IL-15 trial opens a new door for RCC treatment, and is the answer for him.  I hope so.

Ya'll tell me if you hear piano music from up above.  We'll be goo-gooing Evan and buying booze and pie for our beach trip until then.

ebo