CT Scans

[George]

Upholder Wrote:At least of some of the news is good, brother. And yes, continuing in prayer for you.

Actually Brother my prognosis is better than it has been in quite some time. The reason being that if the abdominal tumors are actually eying that allows us to concentrate on the liver tumors. I believed I may have mentioned there are two procedures to consider for that. What I did not mention is that both of these procedures have a 100% success rate. Praise the Lord!

There are also two more medications in the line of treatment I can take. There are also two more in clinical trials. It is extremely comforting and exciting to realize there are more medications available to treat GIST than any other form of cancer. GIST was actually the first medication where the researchers discovered the mechanism which causes the cancer and then set about to find out how to stop it.

GIST is also the first disease of any type to use what is called a targeted medication. Rather than be broad spectrum as most chemotherapy drugs are the drugs available for GIST treatment only go after the mutated cells. Praise the Lord for that also.

Generally speaking after about 5 years on Gleevec, which is the first of the medications that one takes for GIST, it stops working. The tumors become resistant to it. Only recently the doctors have discovered the mutation that causes GIST actually mutates farther and becomes another protein entirely. This one is known as a heat shock protein with the acronym of HSP 90. Since this discovery there are at least two medications on clinical trials that are HSP90 inhibitors.

I don't know how many of you may have read that there was a recent breakthrough in the treatment of certain kinds of breast cancer. The research that allowed this breakthrough comes directly from the research pertaining to GIST. I do not mind being a "guinea pig" for these medications at all. The Lord has provided that they help me as well as many others with GIST. He has also provided that the doctors use some of the things discovered while working on GIST are now beginning to help others.

All I can say is that not only do we serve an awesome God but I am certainly glad I am not a Christian Scientist. I would have been dead a few years ago.

In Christ,
George

[IM4given]

AMEN!