A Letter from Emilie

Dear friends and family This is just a quick update from my last doctor's visit on Monday. We met with Dr. Hale. He showed us that the numbers were going up and that my last scan showed an increase in the number of granulomas in my lungs. He explained that our current regimen of chemo had lost its effectiveness. Basically, the cancer has begun to outsmart my current chemo. We will change to a new kind of chemo. It's nickname is Reggo. We will start this new regimen as soon as the insurance is authorized. The good news: [1] I don't have to go get an infusion every two weeks. The new chemo is simply a pill. [2] This new chemo can cross the blood brain barrier. This means that has a chance and working on my tumor in my brain. The Braftovi was unable to do that. [3] The side effects of the Reggo did not seem too bad. He said it can cause a rash and it can effect my bowels. The bad news: [1] Like the Braftovi, the Reggo has a chance of losing its effectiveness quite quickly. [2]...

Dear friends and family, We spoke with the brain surgeon from the University of Utah a few weeks ago. Her name is Doctor Menacho. She reviewed my most recent MRI of my brain that was taken June 24 th . The mass appears to have returned to its original size. I did not ask her for measurements, but she showed me the pictures and it appeared the same size as before surgery, if not a little bigger. As you can imagine, this was very discouraging news. Why am I so good at growing things?? I was really hoping all this extra pain was a good sign! (That is the story that I told myself... and it kept me going for quite a while!) I was really hoping that my nerves were trying to regenerate and reconnect. It was really frustrating to learn that the pain and numbness is being caused by the tumor pushing on things in the motor strip again. It does explain, however, why things did not get better after the surgery. I have been experiencing a significant amount of pain in the last few weeks. The numb...