[azoyizes]

Arnie was taken off of his last chemo drug Nexavar because of his eyes. He had scarring under his upper eyelids which was causing scarring of his corneas. The last visit to our ophthalmologist, his eye pressures were checked and they were way up because of the drug. He was told that they could operate but not while he was on the meds. Also, if he continued on the meds he would go blind.

He stopped taking the Nexavar that day, and the following week had a CT scan done of his chest and abdomen, followed by a visit with his oncologist and nurse. They agreed about stopping the Nexavar because of the damage to his eyes, and also because one of his lung nodules got a lot bigger than it was in January. He also has areas of cancer in his pelvic bone and in two areas of his lumbar spine. However, they haven't changed since they showed up, so that's good.

The next chemotherapy he is to go on is called Afinitor. It is a daily pill or a weekly IV. If we can't get financial assistance, he'll have to take the IV form as Medicare pays for IV chemotherapy.

This new med has a lot of side effects. Some not bad, some bad, and some very bad. Arnie said that if this one doesn't work or if he cannot tolerate the side effects, that he wants to discontinue chemo and live out the rest of his life at least for now feeling a whole lot better than he's felt in 1-1/2 years. I don't know if he'll change his mind when the time comes, but I'm backing him 100% on either road he takes.