Ron and Bill Beaton, a sight for sore eyes...
Mood:  a-ok
Ron and Carolyn Beaton came by South Florida on Friday and we all had a great time visiting with each other. The (partial) family reunion took place in an Ihop of all places and included Ron, Carolyn, Bill, Kathi and myself (Will). Everyone talked and talked until Ron and Carolyn had to leave to go back home. It was a wonderful day.

Dad and Ron, loving brothers. We've all been waiting for a picture like this for quite some time.

Some side effects...
Dad just had his second, heavy dose of CPT-11, which requires being plugged-in to a drip for over 4 hours!

He's starting to feel a bit sick from the treatment, but he's determined to destroy this "damn tumor". He's very focused on the goal and knows that he must be a soldier like Alex and destroy this horrible enemy.

The side effects may prevent him from traveling to Fort Lauderdale today (in hopes of having a brief visit with family from California). We'll see if he's able to make the long trip to Fort Lauderdale and I'll report back on this blog when I know more about how the day went.

Dad's feeling better.
The side effects of the chemo have been mild so far and Dad has been very upbeat. He will have another big dose of CPT-11 this Thursday.

CPT-11 and Temodar...Today
Topic: Clinical Trials
CPT-11 and Temodar was administered today for the first time. Dad will most likely have to deal with some side effects, like feeling sick. This is the first attempt to fight the tumor so far and we are all hoping for a positive response. We won't really know whether or not the treatment is working (shrinking the tumor) until the next MRI. He will get another treatment of CPT-11 and Temodar next Thursday, the 27th.

Alexander Scott Beaton and Kyle Alexander Beaton
Mood:  happy
This is a picture taken over the weekend of Alex (the war hero) and Kyle (the baby). We can't wait for Dad to see baby Kyle.

New MRI results unexpectedly promising.
Mood:  surprised
Topic: MRIs and Statistics
Typically, fast growing Level 4 tumors like a GBM doubles in size in less than a month. Dad's tumor, though large, only increased a small amount!

The size change is:

03/15/2006 5.3cm X 4.9cm X 8.2cm
04/15/2006 5.5cm X 5.6cm X 8.2cm

Dad goes in to meet with the local Doctor to get his Chemotherapy started today at 12:45.

We still don't have an exact classification of this tumor. With this slight change in Tumor size over the course of 4 weeks, it's a good sign. We won't know the exact classification until we get the chromosomal results back to determine if it has the 1p/19q deletion or not.

They found that allelic loss of chromosome 1p was a significant predictor of chemosensitivity and that combined loss of 1p and 19q showed a significant association with both chemosensitivity and recurrence-free survival. These conditions were strongly associated with longer overall survival.

Basically, we are hoping that he has a 1p/19q deletion. Click on the link below to learn more about the advances of understanding brain tumor activity.

1p/19q Advances

Watch the video from "60 Minutes" about Dr. Friedman, Duke, and hope for Brain Tumor patients.
Link to 60 minutes video

Kyle is born!
7 lbs and 7 ounces. Born today at 1:23 on April 13, 2006!

Back in Florida!
Dad & Kathi are back in Florida and getting situated. The next plan is to get a local Oncologist to work with Duke to assist in administering his treatment protocol.

Dad's brother Ron has called and they had a great conversation. We get continuous phone calls and emails from friends and family. Dad feels very loved.

The whole family really enjoys hearing about how so many people care and are praying for him.

In other news, Molly (Bill's Daughter) is due to give birth any day now. We are expecting a little baby boy named Kyle to greet the world after they induce labor at 5pm tonight! Dad will be a grandfather for the first time and I will be the baby's Godfather.

This is a picture of Molly and her husband Jeff...

Clinical Trials Information
Topic: Clinical Trials
Here are some interesting links with regards to similar treatments:

Article about similar trial at UCLA

Bevacizumab (Avastin?) and CPT-11 (Camptosar?) in the Treatment of Relapsed Malignant Glioma

Avastin and CPT-11 in the Treatment of Malignant Glioma