Yesterday I was removed from the clinical trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My largest tumour has grown too much since I enrolled in November. I exceeded the safety protocols. Tomorrow \u2014 Friday, May 1st \u2014 I meet with my standard care oncologist to figure out what comes next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The conversation yesterday was hard. Not because I fell apart, but because the questions I asked had real answers, and the oncologist gave them to me straight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I don’t feel sick right now. The cancer isn’t what knocks me down \u2014 the chemo does. But I asked when that would change. When would the disease itself start limiting what I can do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Six months to a year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then I asked the harder question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
How long do I have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Twenty-six to thirty-six months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I’ve written before, these are medians. Half the people with my diagnosis do worse. Half do better. I intend to be in the better half \u2014 deep in the long tail of that distribution. I want to be an outlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s why twenty months is the number I’m focused on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In December 2027, my long-term disability coverage hits a threshold. For the first two years on LTD, Manulife asks one question: can you do your old job?<\/em> My oncologist confirmed I cannot, and Manulife agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that two-year mark, the question changes: can you do any job?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to be healthy enough to answer yes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not because I need the income. Because saying yes means the disease hasn’t taken my capacity. It means I’m still functional, still sharp, still here in a way that counts. It means I’m living in the long tail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n December 2027. Twenty months. One clear target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Between now and then, I’m doing everything within my control \u2014 diet, exercise, sleep \u2014 applied with the same rigour I’d bring to any hard problem. I’ll be writing about each of these in detail: the specific choices, the trade-offs, and the evidence behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The tumour gets a vote. But so do I.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday I was removed from the clinical trial. My largest tumour has grown too much since I enrolled in November. I exceeded the safety protocols. Tomorrow \u2014 Friday, May 1st \u2014 I meet with my standard care oncologist to figure out what comes next. The conversation yesterday was hard. Not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"My clinical trial ended. My oncologist gave me a 26\u201336 month prognosis. Here's the one question I'm now focused on answering by December 2027.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"Removed from the Trial: What a 26\u201336 Month Prognosis Actually Means to Me","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[118,131,189,128,178,191,95,190,192],"class_list":["post-425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer-treatment","tag-clinical-trial-2","tag-liver-metastases-2","tag-long-term-disability","tag-median-survival","tag-metastatic-colon-cancer","tag-outlier","tag-prognosis","tag-standard-care","tag-treatment-update"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"featured_media_urls":{"thumbnail":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-300x300.png",300,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-768x768.png",768,768,true],"large":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-1024x1024.png",930,930,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"featured":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"featured@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"featured-small":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-1000x1000.png",1000,1000,true],"recent-thumbnail":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-345x192.png",345,192,true],"recent-thumbnail-retina":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-690x384.png",690,384,true],"woo-featured":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-280x280.png",280,280,true],"entry-cover":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"entry-cover@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1254,1254,false],"loop":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-950x320.png",950,320,true],"loop@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-1254x640.png",1254,640,true],"portfolio-scroller-widget":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-560x560.png",560,560,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",400,400,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",800,800,false],"portfolio_item-masonry":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",600,600,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_wide":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-1254x600.png",1254,600,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_wide_cinema":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E-1254x750.png",1254,750,true],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_cinema":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",335,335,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",600,600,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_square":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",800,800,false],"portfolio_item-masonry@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1200,1200,false],"portfolio_item-thumbnail_portrait@2x":["https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/5FDF261C-3637-4DD7-BF2B-728165536B1E.png",1200,1200,false]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=425"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":427,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/425\/revisions\/427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paul.macpherson.photography\/TMI\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}