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D-MoZone is the place to find out what’s new with pianist/composer/educator Diane Moser. Keep an eye on this blog for updates on music, health, gigs, fundraisers, random thoughts and all things D-Mo. And please keep sending your thoughts, good wishes and comments this way—they’re always needed and always appreciated.

Saturday, May 9, 2009

I'm on drugs!

I am on the drug Gleevec now-this is the best drug for GIST. Technically, I'm taking this as a preventative measure and what I call a "clean-up" effort, to clean up any little cancer cells that were cut loose during the surgery. I believe this drug falls under the category of targeted molecular therapy, in other words it zooms in on the KIT+ protein and eradicates it (KIT+ is the protein that causes the cells to grow and divide abnormally). My oncologist's partner says that I will be on this drug for 6 months. They will monitor my progress thru blood tests, pet scans and ct scans.
From everything that I've been reading, I am extremely lucky to be alive. We caught the tumor and it's satelite tumors just in time (one was attaching itself to my stomach). My oncologist told me that I walked into the hospital in stage 4 cancer and walked out in stage 0. From what I read, taking this drug will drastically reduce the possiblity of a recurrence GIST.
Meanwhile, I am doing exercises to get my strength back, walking, going for acupuncture, eating healthy and giving thanks everyday to everyone who has helped me on this journey so far-you all have been so amazing and wonderful-thank you so much!

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