Bumps in the road

posted by Joe on his FB 6/8/12 If you’ve followed my story for the past year, you know that when I had CT scans just after surgery, two or three small ‘anomalies’ showed up on the scan. At the time, my oncologist said they were possibly cancerous, but since we hadn’t seen images of my lungs ‘before,’ and they were too small to biopsy, there was no way to say for sure. In my November scans, the spots looked about the same; ‘clean enough’ he said at the time. In February, he noted that they had perhaps grown a bit more from November, but were again too small to biopsy. Today’s scans, compared to the initial May 2011 scans, showed that the spots have indeed grown – the largest of them from an initial >2mm size to about 6 mm now. That growth, he concluded, makes it certain that the anomalies are indeed kidney cancer, growing in ‘small volume’ in my lungs. Our next course of action will be to contact the University of Michigan to see if I qualify for a battery of an immunotherapy called high-dose Interleukin 2. You can read more about it here: http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/GuidetoCancerDrugs/interleukin-2 My doc is decidedly in favor of going with IL2. It’s the only thing ever proven to CURE kidney cancer, in 1 out of 20 patients. If it’s gone in the scans after that treatment – it’s gone for good. And even if it’s not, Clinic has a few other major trials spooling up that have a lot of promise. And even then, there are some notable success stories of people in situations like mine (young, relatively healthy) who are going on seven years on existing drugs like sutent. My doctor and nurse wholeheartedly support me continuing with the Normandy Institute through the end of June – he said it’s not ‘urgent’ right now. But by the same token, he wants me to get in to meet the IL2 guy at UM as soon as we get back, hopefully to begin and end the 3-4 weeks of treatments (which are NOT characterized as pleasant) before the beginning of school. I guess if we were the New York Post, the headline to this thing would be “KIDNEY CANCER RETURNS; BOYLES IN SHOCK.” Don’t get me wrong, we are in shock, and this is obviously not news we wished to hear. But saying that my cancer ‘came back’ is kind of like saying (insert your favorite fad here) came back… who said they ever left? We now know that those spots on my lung in May 2011 are the same things there now. They didn’t change. The only thing that changed was how we’re referring to it. What used to be anomalies are now cancer cells. I still feel great. I still plan on having fun. I’m probably going for a 3-4 mile run tonight or tomorrow morning before M’s birthday party. Life goes on. The big change is not so much physical, as much as it is girding up for another hospital stay in July or August; a new hospital to learn; a pretty brutal treatment cycle; a new billing nightmare to navigate. The devil’s in the details. We sure do appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers, and we know we can count on them in the future. PS: If I am indeed cured at the University of Michigan, I, Joseph P. Boyle, do solemnly swear, that I will BURN every last OSU article of clothing I own, and will sing "Hail to the Victors" upon request.