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| My amazing mom (84 yr old) came from Taiwan to help us since June |
After four months of successful immunotherapy using Opdivo, Gohan's cancer is showing minor activities under the CT scan. As a precautionary measure, Dr. Dormady advised us to see Dr. Wakelee at Stanford who specialized in thoracic cancer for a second opinion on the next line of treatment. It had been 9 months since we last saw Dr. Wakelee, she was happy to see that Gohan is doing very well. She suggested adding a new immunotherapy drug Yervoy (ipilumumab) to Opdivo. Yervoy has been approved for treating melanoma, and, in combination with Opdivo, is showing great result for NSCLC patients in the clinical trials. Dr. Dormady will try to get the medicine approved for Gohan to use in August.
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| After four months of Opdivo, we are seeking ways to increase its effect |
She also laid out a future treatment plan for us in case the immunotherapy stops working for Gohan. We were comforted to know that Tagrisso, a third generation EGFR TKI, which was approved in Nov. 2015 for metastatic NSCLC patients with EGFR T790 mutation, will pass through the brain blood barrier. She is confident that Tagrisso will work very well for Gohan as well. The only disappointing news that we heard from her is that Gohan's taste functions are unlikely to recover due to the radiation damage to his brain. Sadly, after he lost his taste, eating has become a chore than a pleasure for him. I am constantly finding ways to help him eat and maintain his weight. Nonetheless, despite the setback, we felt a weight was lifted off of our shoulders when we walked out of Stanford Cancer Center that day.
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| Breath-taking scenery in Alaska taken from my high school reunion cruise |
Feeling stronger, Gohan traveled to Taiwan for business in early July, while I took my mom on a cruise to Alaska for my high school's 40th reunion. Since I attended an all-girls high school in Taipei, Gohan accurately predicted that I would be continually talking with my girlfriends on the cruise, so the business trip to Taiwan was of fortuitous timing for him. However, it turned out that his flight to Taiwan was the most patience testing trip he has ever made.
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Due to a typhoon, Gohan's flight to Taiwan was forced to land in Okinawa
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Because a typhoon was threatening Southeast Asia during the week, it took him 48 hours instead of 13 hours to get to Taipei. In addition to waiting in the airplane for eight hours to take off from San Francisco and flying in a holding pattern around Taiwan for one hour, his flight was forced to land in Okinawa, where he was shuttled for one and a half hour to a hotel to rest, only to be bused again to the airport four hours later, where he waited for yet another five hours at the terminal. You can imagine how exhausted he was by the time he arrived in Taipei. Fortunately, seeing family and friends compensated for the testing trip. The experience also testifies his transformed character and newfound strength. As you probably knew, his famous motto before he was ill was 'I can not wait!'. Please ask him about his trip the next time you see him. He will proudly and vividly recount the experience for you.
Hats off to Gohan!
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| Happy to meet with family in Taiwan after the unexpectedly 48 hours flight |
