Bulk of Treatments are Over

Well, I have been waiting on one particular test to come back before I posted a blog, but I decided I would just post one.  First order of business: thanks to everyone who came to the benefit auction in Richmond, it was a huge success.  I had a great time, and I think everybody else had a little fun as well.  It is a great help to my family and I, and as I move forward fighting this disease it will help in taking some of the financial pressures off my plate.  I am amazed at the support our small town is able to offer and am truly and greatly appreciative.          

The treatment is beginning to look more and more like a success.  The bulk of the treatment is over, and I will begin receiving booster shots in about a month. My disease has stopped progressing altogether, as is evidenced by all of the different scans they have taken, and some of my tumors have actually shrunk and are beginning to shrivel up and disappear.  I was having a new tumor develop every week or two before I began treatment.  It has been about a month since I finished the bulk of the treatments, and I am able to work through the day, and have a social life again.  When I stop being active at the end of the day, though, my body still gets sore and achy.        

We are waiting on a test to see how my immune system is responding to the treatment.  The greater the immune response, the less often I need booster shots.  The hope is that my immune system has been sufficiently stimulated to continue fighting the disease even after the treatments are complete.  It is similar to other vaccines in that booster shots are needed to keep the immune system “informed” of the disease’s presence.