View from the Healing Garden at Mass General

Got back from Boston around 5 pm tonight. Long day! Had my eyes examined, EKG and blood work. All is good. As you all know, Dr. Zhu told me last week there was “dramatic shrinkage”. Julie has calculated the percentage of shrinkage for the 3 areas where there are tumors.

Shrinkage in the lungs is 48%
Shrinkage in the lymph nodes (chest) is 33.3%
Shrinkage in the liver is 24.6%
Overall shrinkage is 30%

We are so excited about these numbers! Dr. Zhu is excited too!

The liver mass was 15 cm when I was diagnosed. It was down to 14 cm in April when Mass General needed a benchmark for the trial. 15 cm is 5.9 inches. 14 cm is 5.5 inches. The liver mass is now 11 cm, which is 4.3 inches. This means that with the initial 10 months of chemo the mass in my liver reduced in size by .4 inches. And with just 2 months (or 42 days) of the clinical trial drug, the large mass went from 5.5 inches to 4.3 inches. That’s a 1.2 inch decrease in size!! This is just amazing! We are now calling this pill the Magic Pill !!

Please note that I’ve updated the Picture Gallery with pictures of the finished kitchen and porch and my new hair cut.

I continue to lose hair, but it’s shedding slowly so I still have not shaved it off. With the above numbers I don’t feel so bad anymore about losing my hair. Mouth sores are gone for the time being except one small one in my throat. Muscles are still aching, especially my hips and my nails are starting to hurt, but not all the time. These are all side effects of the drug.

We head to Misquamicut on Saturday for 2 weeks with much to celebrate!

Thank you for all your prayers, support and love! Couldn’t have done this without you! You are my strength!

Love to all,
Bea