“You are a miracle and the future of medicine!”
Nurse Rebeca S., UCSF Helen Diller Cancer Center
I’d say that quote is worthy of its own hat, t-shirt or even a tattoo maybe. I’ll remember it forever and I thank one of my first cancer nurses, Rebeca at UCSF, for saying it. We had lost touch after meeting way back in Week #3 … and that was Rebeca’s reaction when we caught up recently on all my progress over the past 22 months.
It’s also a fitting quote to convey the great news we received from UCSF today:
The CT Scans from Monday indicate our summer chemo program did a crushing job on my tumor activity. According to my docs, my cancer is now ‘well-controlled’ and on the run. That means I’m ready to move into what we’re calling a ‘maintenance program’. Next steps will be a milder chemo blend to run over the next 2-3 of months / 4-6 infusions that will continue to hammer away on the diminishing tumors. We’re also going to save the immunotherapy options for down the road – if necessary. This allows more time for more new trials and solutions to be developed and perfected on this front. So here in Week #97, we mark a big turning point in getting me to solid ground in Cancerland.
This treatment strategy and approach is common for a lot of cancer patients today. The main idea is to use the solutions we’ve used for the past 75-100 years (surgery, radiation and chemo) to either eradicate your cancer or get you to a steady-state where you can await new treatment breakthroughs. We confirmed today this is working for me and I am beyond fortunate. I am grateful to everyone on my medical team and everyone on Team Crafty for all your unwavering support from near and far.
Thanks for standing by me, Mady and Nat.
We keep rollin’ with your help!
– Crafty 😎👍🏻🚴♂️
Photos: Thank you Jenny Yu for the great pictures from 2019 #GETYOURREARINGEAR with the Colon Cancer Coalition and Olympus. It was a great honor for me to share my story and help you send off the runners and walkers at the starting line.
Here’s a video of my comments >> YouTube
P.S.
Make a call to your doctor today for that appointment you’ve been pushing off.
You can take it from me, 97 weeks is a long long journey to good news in Cancerland.
Get educated. Get screened. Stay outta this place!