Great news and another challenge

Last week Kris had her last Chemo appointment followed by a CAT scan Monday and a meeting with the Oncology team on Tuesday May 12, 2015. The great news is her scan was completely clear with no traces of cancer. And her blood work has greatly improved as well but she is still somewhat anemic. We also met Tuesday with the Genetics Counselor who had recently performed a genetics test on Kris which came out negative on 23 cancer markers, including brca 1 and 2. But while this is all good news, Kris' type of cancer has a 75-80% chance of recurring and the projected survival rate is ten years. Let's all hope and pray she beats the odds.

The new/old issue which we are now dealing with is Kris' Psoriatic Arthritis, a degenerative joint disease and autoimmune disorder that she has been treated for since the early 1990s. When she received the cancer diagnosis she was being treated somewhat successfully with Remicaid, a biologic which is administered via an infusion every 8 weeks. 

Unfortunately, due to possible conflicts with her chemo, her Remicaid infusions were suspended and she instead went on a new "safer" oral drug called Otezla (which btw costs over $2G a month). However, as indicated by her painful inflamed hands (see photo) the Otezla is not working yet. The doctors say it may take 6 months to a year to work. 

After much discussion with her oncologist Dr. Blank and Kris' new Rheumatologist (whose specialty is Psoriatic Arthritis), the doctors have decided to supplement the Otezla with another drug, Methotrexate, and wait and see. If this treatment does not work she can always go back to the bi-monthly Remicaid infusions, however Remaicaid comes with a million warnings against possible links to cancer. which was why they stopped it last November. So, as you can see, while this is a time for celebrating and catching our breath, we are still not completely out of the woods.