Back to the drawing board

I know, its been a while since my last update. I have been trying to process everything emotionally for a bit and figuring out next steps before sharing.

After another scan and bone biopsy, it has been confirmed that I have metastatic spread to the bones at the moment. Therefore, I am no longer a candidate for surgery, and I had to go back to systemic chemo.

I was placed on Flofox once again (my 1st line) because, although I had progression, it was during my almost 4 months off of chemo. So, there is no need at this moment to go to 2nd line.

Along with this news, I also started a treatment of Xgeva, which is a bone-strengthening medication to prevent any future fractures. I will have that injection once a month.

At this current moment, I have completed another 3 rounds of chemo and have experienced some stomach ulcers that are causing me pain when eating, (we had to do an endoscope to check) but I do hope with some
other medications they will heal quickly.

During this time, my team at Mayo and UM have spoken about exploring the idea of moving over to clinical trial options. Trials that are meant to target the one major expressing protein in my tumor, Claudin 18.2.

Claudin 18.2 is being explored from many different angles, and although there is an upcoming FDA drug (Zolbetuximab) that will be approved in November, the final data from those trials is just allowing folks to get a little more time.
I will hold off on that as a second option if needed, but I would rather
explore what is coming down the investigational pipeline, which might
be more promising.

Therefore, we’re excited to complete my 4th round of chemo next week, followed by imaging scans to assess our progress. From there, we look forward to moving into a clinical trial at Mayo in Jacksonville. This journey will unfold within the next 2 to 3 weeks of October, and I’m optimistic, yet at the same time, nerve-racking to step away from chemo once again. However, if my oncology team honestly believes that Claudin might be the “driver” of my cancer, then I must give it a shot at targeting that in hopes of a more effective outcome. And honestly, FLOFOX was developed in the ’90s with ingredients from the ’50s and ’60s.

There MUST be more forward movement with development of genome sequencing and new pharmaceuticals and if I can be part of that forward movement of the dial, I am all for it.

Thats my update and here a few photos of the past few weeks.