My somewhat urgent email to Dr. Druker was inevitably intercepted by a member of his staff when it arrived at the Portland University Health and Sciences Center. Their response was cordial, to the point and somewhat ambiguous. If and when Dr.Druker was available to review my case, I would be alerted to be ready for a call. That call was key to understanding the intricacies of why and how, my Gleevec stopped working on me after so long. Things were good. Business was good. Nick was flourishing in Cali, and Joe up in Canada again. Lori was teaching away in the North Penn School Library system and continuing her reign as the District Library Chair.
About a week after I had submitted my Hail Mary letter to Dr. Druker, the phone rang with the glorious sound of “Mr. Keenan, are you available to speak to the doctor?” He’ll yes!! …”Please hold”. As I composed myself, readying every question, comment or analysis that I would confront him with, I felt my life slipping into that void of despair. Please have an answer for me Doc and make it good. “Hi Jeff, how the hell are you?” “Well Dr. Druker, here is my situation.” Hopefully he had received and reviewed my email and would deliver an easy logical answer to my problem. His analysis and take of my issue was that invariably, Gleevec had found a way to circumvent the path to Cml remission and basically become useless in the fight against my Leukemia. The question was why? Our next move was for Dr. Druker to send a special blood harvesting kit that would allow a tremendous amount of blood to be drawn and sent priority status from Philly to Portland to analyze the CBC and PCR parameters in the PHSCenter. The labs there were the tops in the country. He would figure it out.
As the specimens were drawn and packed for their cross country FedEx jaunt to the West Coast, I signed my boys initials on the box for luck… Couldn’t hurt. Now we wait again. About two weeks according to the Hanahmen staff. No big deal. “Yeah right”. Words of encouragement from Lor softened the blow and keeping busy at the store kept my spirits up. Still, no one knew of the predicament. It was still too early to scare the family. Things were finally looking up for everyone. About two weeks in, I got an email from the Druker asking if I would be available to talk the next day. It was Saturday. I said “Sure…what time”. He said that he would call around 3pm, 12 pm his time. I will await your call sir. Thank you. So that email was basically an offer to stay up all night to think about your life, your family, mortality and life beyond the unknown if that exists. Without hard proof, the scientist in me remained skeptical yet full of unbridled hope and passion for my truths to be dashed by that well known or vaulted version of bliss on the other side….Heaven.
So, I was watching the Philadelphia Eagles play the New York Giants in a usual tit for tat battle of the pigskin on an uneventful Sunday afternoon. It was a nice day and the Eagles were actually winning when the phone rang. Right on the money. 3 pm.Here we go. Was I nervous? Are you right now? The question all Oncologists ask when they are about to crush your world is always the same. It doesn’t matter who the doctor is. “Hi Jeff, what are you doing?”. What am I doing? I’m waiting to get my heart ripped out! Or, as I actually answered, “I’m watching football”.”Thanks for the call Doc”. Let’s get down to our Sunday call. Usually not too promising since the call can’t wait until Monday. Spit it out. “Ok, you are a bit of a conundrum. An anomaly of sorts. Our lab was able to read and detect a rogue chromosome. A chromosome only seen or discoved once before in the history of the Cosmic Cancer Database. In fact, you are the only one in the world who carries this mutation.” “And the other patient?”, I asked. “He passed away in 2010 a few months after the mutation was detected in his DNA.” Less treatment available eight years earlier. I would now revert to test dummy status again. I asked Dr Druker if I had a chance for living and how much longer I might have. ” He said…how many years since your FDA trial started have you stayed alive?” “18 sir”. ” Let’s shoot for 18 more” he said.
Dr.Druker would now have me transferred from the I. Brodsky and Associates group at Hahnemann University Hospital to the Abramson Cancer Center of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Selina Luger would be taking over my new protocol along with Dr. Druker. Dr. Luger was a renowned expert on Blood Cancer and quite the looker.. Canadien too. They made a fabulous experienced team of seasoned Hemotologist/Oncologists. It was now October and my first foray into the big city would be the first week of January. I would continue to take the heavy dose of Gleevec through the end of the year and contact any of them if things got any worse. I would become the number one and only in the study of J Keenan vs the BCR-ABL(p210) mutation. This was war. Screw you 210!
Next Up: A Pro, A Backpack and A Blond