News at last

Guys, I haven't smiled this big in a while. I can't say how warm my heart is at all of your kind responses. Jeez, you guys can sure brighten a guy's day. I couldn't be in a better place.

Thank you all,

Chris
 
Chris, you get back the energy that you put out. We're just basking in your brightness, bud. If there be a hiccup, a bump, a stumble, a stormy night, we'll be here for you. a day from now, a month, a year.
Oh and do take Kis up on his kind offer for Young Bert. I offered, but he won't let me wash him in my industrial grade dog washing machine (I'd even put it on delicate:rolleyes: ).

Jake
 
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Linda Rae said:
You tell him he's still on my church [Church of the Nazerine] prayer list but he has to make his peace with GOD now.
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I've got smoke going up for you right now. The sky has lightened in the east and Venus is bright in the sky.

We're all pulling for you, Chris.
 
Roadrunner said:
<snip> Uncle Bill had a blockage in his heart. <snip>When they looked at his heart again, they found that his heart had grown it's own bypass! Something that happens once in 10,000 cases, or some crazy odds like that. Not too surprising that it happened to him though, at least not to most of us.
<snip>
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Wow!
I had a bypass and 18 months later I started having angina attacks again and they did another angiogram and the bypass had closed up but I had grown my own bypass too. I had no idea it was that rare.
 
Hey, Kismet, thanks for the offer but I've got two great pooches already. Guinness and Sparky are a handful! A norwich terrier and a cairn tarrier, respectively, they just play all the time, and we have to try hard to keep them out of trouble as it is!

Does yours go after rodents? Ours are pretty obsessed with them!

Chris
 
My old dog Lady used to love squirrels. If you even wispered the word her ears would cock and she'd run to the door. I used to get her all wipped up and let her out to chase them when they were in the yard. She never cought one, but boxers are so beautiful running, and she loved the chase. I miss her.
 
OK Chris, I understand.

Uhhh....say, here's an idea!

Just, uh, send me your address and we can correspond about our dogs!

Yeah, that's the ticke... that would be fun, don't you think?



In answer to your question, YB, the n-r d, hunts everything but cows and sparrows--not with any encouragement on my part, but because of a troubled puppyhood.



wacherass, hear?
 
namaarie said:
Thanks, guys. Actually, the drug is called Gleevec. It's pretty new and experimental. It was developed for use with a certain rare type of leukemia, but apparently some very new research shows promise with sacral chordomas.

Chris

Edit: I accidentally called the cancer what they originally thought it was. oops.
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I was wondering whether to post this, but now I know you are on Gleevec, I will. I have a friend who is a highly respected cancer research scientist at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. I wrote to him about your case. This is his reply.
==============================
Hi Andrew

Well...I must admit that sacral chondromas are a very rare disease manifestation. Usually the standard treatment is surgical resection and ionizing radiation...but in this case it has clearly spread to the point when these treatments or indeed any treatment of that type is futile.

I must say I am puzzled with the description of "taking a pill" every day that will stop the disease where it is. Like I said, this is not my field of speciality, but I looked up the literature and cannot find any single agent that holds that kind of promise in disease so advanced. There is a drug called irinotecan also called camptothecin or camptosar that is used for palliative treatment of chondromas, but the clinical benefit in such advanced disease is modest at best. Then again as a new discovery, there are molecular designer drugs that are used to treat leukemias and gastrointestinal tumours. You may have heard of one of them called "Gleevec" which CNN reported as the "magic pill" for leukemia. However, I could not find such mention on a medline for chondroma, but it would be a good call in this case.

=========================

Anyway, as a newbie here, I wish you well in your treatment.
 
Also wish you a happy birthday, Chris.

I really admire your spirit! Hang in there!

Smoke and prayers.
 
Happy Birthday Chris. Your attitude is a testament to your strength as we've all said. Miracles happen, and positive attitudes attract them. Keep your head up.

Andy
 
Thanks guys!

Thanks, Andrew Taylor, for running it by your friend. He was right about what I had and why they're treating it this way. Surgical resection would do no good because it's already metastasized (spread). The use of Gleevec to treat sacral chordoma is extremely experimental, especially in a metastatic case like mine. It was originally tried with some success by a group in Italy. Gleevec also seems to have some effect on GIST and some other cancers. If he wasn't a pretty specialized oncologist, he would almost certainly not have heard of this application. This is why I'm so glad that my doctor is the head of sarcoma (/chordoma) oncology at MD Anderson. If anybody in the US would know how to treat this, it is him. So, I'm part of the research that will study whether or not this stuff works. But, since it's our best shot, I'm happy with that.

Thanks for telling your friend, and if he has any more ideas or finds any new treatments, feel free to let me know. I'm keeping all options open! :)

Chris

Oh, and I'm pretty excited about my birthday tomorrow! My dad's going to help me get a handgun! Pretty cool, considering he used to be practically a Brady campaign supporter! -My mom still is. :D
 
Happy birthday Chris!
This will just be the next in a long line of celebrations to come. Keep the positive thoughts.

Dick
 
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS !!!!!


Hey, here's a thought:

Send me your address so I can surprise you with a wunnerful birthday gift !!!

Huh? Huh? yes?



Be well and safe, warrior.
 
Kismet said:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS !!!!!


Hey, here's a thought:

Send me your address so I can surprise you with a wunnerful birthday gift !!!

Huh? Huh? yes?



Be well and safe, warrior.
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Chris, send it to me also, what Khuk don't you have that you want, send 2 or 3 choices my inventory isn't 100%.

Dick
 
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