As some of you know, Thursday we got a call from MSK letting us know that the biopsy would be moved from Friday to Monday. So Colton got the tumor biopsied on Monday. He was meant to resume treatment today to finish this thing off once and for all, but we received a call yesterday that insurance still has not given approval for the extra drug that he needs.
Despite that less-than-thrilling news, Colton’s oncologist did tell us today that his biopsy came back that it’s the same cancer that everything else she’s been treating and not some more matured, mutated cancer. So, while it’s a bummer there’s a new, fairly large spot, it’s the only one, and it can be treated with the same drugs that took care of the other cancer.
For those just joining us and are interested in the nitty gritty details, Colton has been on a treatment called Nivolumab and the drug we’re waiting to get approved is Ipilimumab. The Ipi primes the immune system and unmasks the cancer for the Nivo to attack and destroy it. He was on this regimen before and they took him off the Ipi because everything was working and that drug was raising his liver function to an unhealthy level, which is a side effect of it, but also meaning that it’s making his immune system to work overtime and getting the job done.
So all that to say, we’re now waiting on insurance to jump in and cover it once again. We met with his oncologist today and signed some papers just in case insurance denies it. The papers were for a scholarship program that could cover the drug if insurance doesn’t follow through.
Just because she has to, she mentioned the option of going back to chemotherapy. Before we even answered she knew that we don’t consider that as an option. When we’ve been brought this far by indescribable assurance, we can’t back down so easily.
On another note, I was able to write a guest pots for a friend’s blog that was put up today. It’s a summary of how Colton and I met and how we’ve made it this far. You can read that post HERE.
I also wanted to give another shameless plug to the Cycle for Survival event that’s taking place next Friday, February 24th. If anyone is in the NYC area, let me know, we’d love to have you part of the team! Or if you’d like to know what it’s all about or donate to help towards cancer research, check it out HERE.
We’ll keep everyone posted on when we hear from insurance. Right now we have an appointment for the next two Wednesdays for if/when we get approval. Keep the prayers and good vibes going, it’s working, and we’re not giving up.