Week in Duderstadt

Another week of intensive immuno therapies and intense local hyperthermia treatments is over. The weather in Duderstadt was great and I feel better than ever, even though Prof. Vogl’s latest radiology report makes for some grim reading. I may not understand medical german all that well, but phrases like Grosse Progression are hard to miss. Still lets not dwell on that.

I arrived in Duderstadt on Sunday and started the first therapy with Dr. Nesselhut the following day. Pretty much the same routine as last time, with one major difference:

Monday – Newcastle Disease Virus, Local Hyperthermia
Tuesday – Newcastle Disease Virus, Local Hyperthermia
Wednesday – Dendritic Cell Vaccine, Interleukin-2 injection, Local Hyperthermia
Thursday – Zometa, Local Hyperthermia, Ozone
Friday – Zometa, Local Hyperthermia, Ozone, Interleukin-2 injection, donor gamma-delta cells.

Unlike last month, where I was quite sick with bad flu like symptoms, this time I had no reaction to the Dendritic Vaccine. Everything this month has been easier. Can’t explain it, but I like to think that this is a good sign and not a mere build up of tolerance to the treatments.

Friday (today), I received a transfusion of gamma-delta cells. This is new. These were harvested from a healthy donor, (most likely one of the nurses at the clinic, but they would not tell me which one) and cultured in a lab. Over 200 million cells were infused over about 40 minutes. So far no reaction to the gamma-delta infusion, though I feel a litle more tired than usual. I don’t expect an adverse reaction however as this is not typical for this treatment.

Finishing the day with 6 IVs that I am doing in the hotel room as I write this and tomorrow I go back home to spend a week with my family. I was planning on two weeks initially, but I don’t think that I can afford such a long break from treatments. I would like to also squeeze in 2DG this month. (This has me excited, but more on that next time.)