Today Newton had an appointment up at CSU. He had the following done:

• Physical Examination and some blood work
• Tumor Measurement - Dr. Perry indicated that the tumor hadn't grown in size since the last set of X-Rays taken on September 3rd. He also mentioned that the team thought they saw something on an X-Ray of his right leg, so they took some additional X-Rays to make sure that it wasn't an area of concern as well.
• Gene Therapy Administration - They also injected the tumor with a gene therapy that has demonstrated anti-tumor responses in rodents and in canine oral melanoma. As I understand it, the gene is carried to the tumor cells by an adenovirus vector with the intent to induce apoptosis (programmed cell death).

During his appointment, they also did a Jamshidi bone biopsy under fluoroscopic guidance. Dr. Perry indicated that the collected specimen may only contain reactive bone. Due to the specimen consistency (if that makes sense), they collected multiple biopsy specimens to improve the changes of making a diagnosis.

Newton was in quite a bit of pain coming home. Mary let me borrow her mini-van. THANK YOU MARY! The mini-van was a life savor. He is on 2.5 chewable tablets of Deracoxib (100 MG) a day and 3 tablets of Tramadol (50 MG) twice a day.