Update from Jeff 11/9/17

We got some excellent news yesterday at MD Anderson based on my CT scan last week.   There has been basically no change in the last 3 scans, so they now consider me to be in clinical remission and can find no evidence of (active) cancer.   They believe the last small spot on my lung is the remnants of the cancer and is probably dead and basically now a scar.   There’s another small spot which has been there since 2013 and it is benign.     I will continue treatment at least through next February (as of right now), but they have changed my protocol to have an infusion every  3 weeks instead of every 2 weeks.    This will make continuing the treatment much more palatable.  Cancer can always come back but, as of now, the news is excellent.   Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers. 

Jeff

Update from Jeff 9/19/17

My scan last week showed very little change in the tumor and no new tumors, which is good news.    Maybe a little shrinkage, but not statistically significant.  

Update from Jeff 7/24/17

I had a scan done last Monday which showed a very minor amount of shrinkage of my tumor.   This wasn’t that surprising since it was done sooner than my other scans (4 weeks vs 8 weeks).   Plus, I had missed on of my treatments.   However, no new tumors have been found which is good news, plus it has not grown.   My next scan will be in 8 weeks, so I’ll update you again then.   Thanks again for the thoughts and prayers. 

Jeff

Update from Jeff 6/6/17

Just finished my second CT scan after 8 treatments and the results looked very good.   I had another roughly 35% decrease in my tumor size and no new tumors were found.   The plan is to continue my treatments for the near future (next several months).   I’m not tolerating them as well lately, but there certainly better than some of the other alternatives.   Again, thanks for the support and prayers.

Update from Jeff 4/10/17

Had an abdominal/chest scan on Sunday and met with my doctor at MD Anderson today to get the results.    Of the two tumors, the smaller one has disappeared and the larger one has shrunk by 1/3.   No new metastases have been found.   This is very good news and I will continue the infusions every other week for the foreseeable future.   Again, thanks to everyone for their support and prayers.

March 12

 Things are getting pretty predictable now.   On the week of the infusions (on every other Monday), Jeff starts to feel bad around mid-day on Wednesday, really tired on Thursdays and starts to 'recover' on Friday, and feels pretty good again on Saturday.   We've learned to do certain things to help mitigate the symptoms, although they have varied a little between treatments.  Last week, the symptoms were less severe, although there was much more coughing this time.   This week will be for followup blood test and EKGs and we will go home on Thursday.   After that, we will just have visits to MDA on Mondays, for infusions one week and followup tests the next week.   After the 4th cycle (8 weeks) are complete, a scan will be done to see how Jeff is responding and we will go from there.   Probably won't be many more posts (unless something unusual happens) until results from the scan are received.   A big 'thanks' to everyone for their concern and prayers.

March 8

Jeff was discharged from CTRC Tuesday afternoon and admitted to the hospital (per protocol). Early Wednesday morning he had some 'chest pain/tightness in his chest', but he has a cough and it might be related to the cough or the large amount of fluids he is receiving. He had a breathing treatment because of the cough and shortness of breath and the cough is slightly better. He is somewhat anxious because of the shortness of breath though it seems to be improving with the breathing treatments and reassurance from the midlevel provider. The rash is starting on his back as expected so the other symptoms can't be far away.

Thanks for your interest, concern and prayers. All are appreciated.

March 3

We got back into Houston Sunday. After lab and seeing the doctor, treatment started again yesterday. Overall, Jeff is doing well. He developed itching and redness about 2 hours after starting treatment, but 2 doses of IV benadryl took care of those side effects. He will be admitted to the hospital today for one day. So far all is going well.

(From Maureen: my apologies for not posting this timely)

March 1

Jeff was feeling well enough to go visit our friend Lisa yesterday morning. Unfortunately, by noon he was developing a headache. Thinking it was allergies or hunger we did things to alleviate those issues. The headache got worse and about 5:00 pm he took his B/P which was very high. The doctor on call said to take him to the ER, which we did. We were in the ER from 6:00 - 10:00 pm. By then his B/P was down and his headache was better. He is doing better today, but keeping a close eye on his B/P. We head home tomorrow afternoon after seeing the doctor. We will return to Houston on Sunday to start the round of immunotherapy all over again.

February 27

Sorry for the delay in updates.

Tuesday: Jeff was discharged from CTRC and admitted to a hospital room for observation. He got some IV Benadryl for itching, his first symptom, and took a very good nap. Overall, he did well.
Wednesday: Jeff was discharged from the hospital in the morning and other than redness and itching was doing fairly well. We went to the hotel where he realized he was very tired. He spent the rest of the day resting.
Thursday: As predicted this was not a good day. Jeff looks like he has a severe sun burn and the amount of area involved is increasing. He is exceedingly tired and the itching from the rash he developed is severe. He also is very tired. His blood pressure dropped so he got fluids in CTRC. He has a fever, which is just adding to him being miserable. The chills are so bad his entire body is shaking uncontrollably.
Friday: More of the same from yesterday, except he couldn't focus when he tried to read. We went to ophthalmology and the diagnosis was dry eye, probably from the benadryl and fever. His B/P is okay today, but he just feels very bad with fever, chills, 'sun burned' skin and the rash which now has blisters, especially on his back. He began to feel better as the day went on.
Saturday & Sunday: Jeff felt better as each day progressed. He felt well enough to visit Abby, our dog, who my brother  Tom and sister-in-law Beth have been God sent in taking care of her for us. We visited more family on Sunday. Now the only issues are the rash, his skin color is returning to normal, and he always feels hot. Tylenol seems to be controlling the back ache he developed  Saturday night.
Jeff hurt his left foot a few weeks ago and it continues to cause him pain. It makes it difficult for him to walk any distance.
We have daily visits for lab and the doctor through Thursday.

February 23

Jeff does not feel well. He feels like he has the flu on steroids. He has a rash, that is improving. His skin is flushed, his stomach is upset, achey and he is extremely tired. These are all symptoms they said he would have. We hope that he will begin to feel better in the next few days. 

February 20, Treatment begins

Jeff received his investigational immunotherapy (NKTR-214) and Optivo today starting about 3 PM. He is tolerating it well. He is in the CTRC (Clinical Transitional Research Center) for 24 hours then will be in a room for observation for 24 hours. He is the only patient they have overnight tonight. Since it is an investigational protocol they are drawing a lot of blood, but put in IV access so that he is not "stuck" every time they need the blood.

 

We are staying at the Wyndham in the Medical Center when he is not in the hospital.

 

Everyone says that he will feel pretty good until Wednesday or Thursday when he will probably start having significant flu like symptoms, but the severity is different for everyone. We are hoping for the best. Thank everyone for their concern and prayers.

 

Felicia

February 15

We signed all of the paper work, got our questions answered, and confirmed that Monday, Feb 20th will be the start date of the clinical trial.   Fortunately, my two lung metastasis are too small to biopsy, plus they haven’t grown any since December, so one of the more painful aspects (lung biopsy) of this trial won’t happen.    The inital 2 cycles may go as long as 14 days each, with 3 days in between.   We’ll be staying at a hotel nearby MD Anderson and, assuming I’m not feeling to bad, should have to opportunity to visit with our Houston friends.   My brother in-law, Tom, has generously to keep Abby for us which will, undoubtedly, keep their household in more of an uproar.  After these 2 cycles (about a month), we will be returning to MDA weekly for EKG, blood tests and more drug infusions for, probably, at least 6-12 months.   This will, of course, depend on the success of the two drugs (NKTR-214, Obdivo) and my ability to tolerate them. 

February 2, 2017

We have finally reached a decision and Jeff will be going to MD Anderson to participate in a clinical trial starting February 20th.   The clinical trial seemed to have the best chance of success with the least amount of toxicity, plus our doctors at MD Anderson recommended it.   Initially, there will be 2 cycles, each 11 days, with a 3 day break between the two.    The good news is that only a few days of each cycle will be in the hospital, the rest will consist of staying in a hotel and going to the hospital for daily lab and follow ups.  We (Felicia) will keep you updated on Jeff’s progress.   Thanks for all of your prayers.

As the next phase of the journey begins

It is one of life's blessings to be surrounded by so many loving, caring friends and family members, particularly now, as Jeff embarks on this next leg of his treatment. It is difficult to reply to all of the individual emails, calls, and texts, but Jeff and Felicia want to be able to keep those informed who want to know "How Jeff's Doing." As there is news and/or updates on Jeff's treatments and other health news, Jeff and Felicia will post here, enabling them to focus on Jeff while still keeping friends and family informed. To make it easy to remember, the name of this blog and web page is HowJeffsDoing.blogspot.com (no apostrophe and not case sensitive).

Feel free to leave comments below each post if you like. You can even sign up to receive email notifications when something new has been posted here (see link on the right).