Who's in for another needle to the Brain!

And so here we are a little over 3 ½ years later and still boxing with this tumor.

How about a quick recap:

At this point my right arm is continuing to struggle and give me a bit of an issue. My right leg continues to keep my vertical and walking. My speech is a bit challenged; words come and go frequently, except for all the bad words. For some reason I can remember those!

So it looks like I have held off the tumor without drugs and surgeries as long as possible. We have been seeing Dr. Kesari over the last few weeks and after a ton of arm twisting, I am headed for a biopsy (combined with a clinical trial) next Wednesday.

Unfortunately, the doctors are not sure what kind of tumor I do have. The one they originally took out and zapped with ungodly amounts of radiation seems to be somewhat dormant. Unfortunately right near the dormant tumor lurks a new hot spot. Unsure of what kind of tumor it is; we are headed into surgery.

This surgery is a bit different, as I will be part of a clinical trial called Tocagen

From what I understand, it is a phase 1 trial and I am one of 3 people in the country that will be getting the virus this round. So far there have been 9 others. All are still living, keep positive, that is a good thing.

I will have to take a chemo agent that will interact with the virus and hopefully kill the tumor.

I’m scared. I’m scared that the surgery will do more damage, I already can’t see on my right side, lost of the use of my right arm, limited use of my leg. I know biopsies are relatively safe, but this biopsy is into my head. All it takes is for a piece of sand mistake and I could lose my eyesight, my speech, or worse. I guess a little heavy. However, I remain positive as best as I can. Not sure what that looks like to the outside world but I am sure I am not fooling anyone. Not even me.