My brother’s cancer has been progressing.  He has a large tumor in his left ear and it is also in both lungs.  He was denied access to the clinical trial for the immunotherapy but is getting the therapy anyway.  I think it had more to do with funding than anything else.

Treatment started with radiation treatment to the tumor in his ear.  That is a daily treatment.  That means I have to drive to Elyria, pick him up and head to Seidman in University Circle.  On a good day it is a four hour day and on a bad day eleven hours.

After a few radiation treatments he started his immunotherapy.  This will be every two weeks for at least two years.  We got there at 10am for our appointment, they took us back at 10:45.  Explained the procedure and said they had to make the cocktail and it would take twenty minutes.  At 11:30 they brought the treatment to him.  It would take an hour so I got some coffee and headed to my car to practice guitar,  I didn’t hear from him after an hour and a half so I headed back to him.

He had a bad reaction to the therapy and had a very hard time breathing and pain in his back.  The whole medical team came and they pumped him full of steroids and Benedryl.  Once he stabilized they resumed the treatment but had to slow down the drip considerably.  Instead of an hour it became nearly three.

So, because of the complications they have to slow the treatment down considerable and also he has to have someone drive him there every time.  I almost had him on his own and driving himself.  This is a real setback.

I allowed much of this to weigh on my mind.  I’m still walking and doing other things to become healthy.  I’m back to writing and I’m back to working hard on my goal,