Now we are undecided about what to do next. My oncologist agrees that we should suspend my chemotherapy for several weeks in order to attack my adrenal tumor with radiation. We will begin that program on Monday and have the last radiation treatment for my cancer on Friday, July 17th. That part is set in stone. What to do following the radiation is now up in the air.

We are deciding between going back to the chemo regimen that I have been following for about six months (avastin and abraxane for three weeks then a week off) and beginning a new drug which works a bit differently. The new drug is called nivolumab and works by getting the patient’s own immune system to fight the cancer. The drug has shown promise in trials and has been approved for some types of lung cancer. It has not yet been approved for my type of lung cancer (non-small cell adenocarcinoma) but my doctor feels that it will be approved shortly and would probably not be denied if we sought approval to try it. It has only been shown to work in 20-40% of cases, but he feels that it is worth a try.

So, he will look into this new drug during my break from chemo and we will make a decision on the 23rd of July when I see him again.