Victoria: A Light That That Continues to Shine
Some thoughts from Jon
Jon Roise
6/13/20262 min read
Many of you have reached out to see how she’s doing. And i know many others would have but it’s understandably hard to know exactly what to do because… because of the weightiness of the matter.
In either case we are both so grateful for the thoughtfulness.
A while back we had launched a fundraising effort because the treatment we had selected to battle Victoria’s stage 4 CRC Liver & Lung metastasis cancer diagnosis was an experimental treatment of of Houston Texas and it was not an insurance covered option.
In just a matter of less than 10 days we had accrued commitments of support for 2-3 months of this very expensive treatment.
Victoria and I had flown in our little plane to Houston to start treatment and get trained how to operate and administrate her battery powered IV pump for 20 hours per day of intermittent treatment.
In 8-9 days we got trained in and her condition was observed and tested by the treating physicians and then we traveled home.
We were mostly through her 3rd week of treatment before we noticed she was starting to hallucinate and lose touch with reality vs imaginary, and soon after that, unmanageable pain sent us to the emergency room and for the next two weeks she was in and out of ICU as she recovered from severe mineral deficiency which was causing her to lose mental acuity.
Once she had recovered her electrolytes and minerals and thinking facilities we returned home and attempted to resume her A&P therapy from houston. Within minutes she knew she was having an allergic reaction to the ‘anti-neoplatons’ medication.
The reaction was severe enough that she again had to recover in ICU. We had started this treatment on the heels of getting very good news of the results of her dendritic cell treatment in tijuana. At the start of her dendritic cell treatment, her blood test for CTC (circulating tumor cell) count had been at level 5. we were told that number was very high and concerning, but that after starting dendritic cell treatment, we wound measure again, and even iif it could be moved to 4 would be a sign that the treatment was working and worth continuing.
Well, after three months the number had moved from 5 to ZERO. This was very encouraging and so we were exciting to conitinue with that treatment alongside this A&P therapy. However, after these complications with the A&P we went back to Tijuana mexico for her next dendritic cell therapy and her new blood test revealed that her CTC number had now gone from 0 up to 20.
We have never heard of a number as high as 20, and so this news was quite devastating. This has been our most difficult stretch as of yet. The last of this all occurred mid april. From then until now we have adjusted emotionally and mentally to all of this new information and results. Since then we have focused on trying to keep Victoria as comfortable as we can while we assess her ability to pursue and endure other treatment options.
Our current future plans include to return to Tijuana in July for her next dendritic cell treatment and at that time discuss with her team the feasibility of any other treatment options.
We continue to be so grateful for all of the support we have received which has enabled us to pursue absolutely any option this world has available to pursue health and healing for my beautiful bride, Victoria Rae Roise