This week was my third TIL trial follow-up. Based on what we had heard up to this point, we went into the appointment with the doctors yesterday with a good deal of concern about what we were going to hear. At my last follow-up in July Dr. Goff had told me that there was still a slight chance the treatment could begin to work, but she didn't sound very hopeful. In fact, I was given the option of taking myself out of the trial or letting them monitor me for six more weeks. Since things were stable I agreed to go to the next follow-up. But going through another round of nausea and vomiting over the past couple of weeks had me convinced it would be back to Dr. Sharfman to look for another trial or treatment.
When my new research fellow, Dr. Seitter, entered the room she didn't look like the bearer of bad news. I have not seen the radiologist's reports on my recent scans but this is what Dr. Seitter told me: My brain mets that were treated with radiation are resolving. The multi-lobar mass in my chest is slightly smaller according to RECIST criteria. One part of it is mainly unchanged, although a little rounder in shape now when it had been oval. The other lymph node that makes up the mass has shrunk from about 7% over baseline measurement, where it was in July, to now about 0.5% over baseline. And, as Dr. Goff pointed out, there is nothing new anywhere.
So I'm still at stable disease, but it looks like there's a possibility that things are going to turn in a positive direction. Dr. Goff said the lab is still working with my cells to try and find why my cells aren't providing a more robust defense.
And there's this…
In my last post, after my July follow-up, I mentioned that it seemed to be time to add some complementary medicine to what the doctors are doing. I'm a Delaware medical marijuana patient and I have been taking Rick Simpson Oil according to his dosing instructions. I started the day I came home from my July follow-up and have been taking it daily. I don't know that cannabis oil has helped this process in any way, shape, or form, but it certainly can't hurt. And it's an interesting coincidence that after over a year of my tumors slowly growing through two trial treatments now after six weeks of cannabis oil they appear to be shrinking. I'm not ready to draw any conclusions, yet.
And I'm not advocating for anyone else to abandon medical treatments for Rick Simpson Oil exclusively. Do what your doctor tells you. But if you live in a medical marijuana state, you might want to look into this as another part of your arsenal.
-Bill
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