Another week, another doctor

Yesterday we met with the radiation oncologist at Riverview Medical Center with whom we discussed Cyberknife radiation last October. As you will recall, we decided to go with the IMRT/IGRT radiation with Dr. Yamada at Memorial Sloan-Kettering instead. This time, we wanted to investigate whether Cyberknife might be an option to debulk the major tumor in my lung. We had asked Dr. Flores and the pulmonologist about this, and they both thought it was worth investigating.

Rather than bore you with all the details, I'll sum up our meeting. The doctor felt that attempting to get into the clinical trial was the most important item on my agenda. If I don't get in, I might want to consider trying a round or two of Gem/Tax and have scans again before considering Cyberknife. As he stated, the last time the tumor was measured was almost two months ago (two months without any chemo treatment), and he would have to assume that the 4.6 cm tumor is now larger. (Six centimeters is his outside limit for performing Cyberknife.) While he believes that Cyberknife could certainly debulk or even destroy the tumor, there are a number of risks: damage to one of the major vessels while the tumor marker is implanted; damage to one of the major vessels from the radiation; inflamation of the lung due to the radiation resulting in permanent shortness of breath; and a potential longterm complication of an aneursym on one of the vessels. He also conceded that the radiation could potentially damage the phrenic nerve and make my cough worse rather than improving it. It's a lot to consider.

So right now we are waiting to hear from Dr. K about this trial and when it will start. I'm beginning to get nervous about being off treatment for this long, but I know that starting something new now could jeopardize my chances of getting into the trial. I'm hoping to hear from her early next week.

My boss is going to be on vacation next week, so I'll be working from home and won't have to go into the office for another week. I had been planning to go back on Wednesday, which, believe it or not, will be four weeks since I came home from the hospital. Now I have another few days to rest up and try to wrap my mind around the idea of getting up every morning at 4:05. Yikes! At least the first week will be a short one.

It's been rainy, windy and chilly here for three days now, but the Nor'easter is supposed to move out sometime tomorrow. I did a half mile inside Costco on Wednesday and rode the incumbent bike for three miles today, but I hope to be out for my walk tomorrow or Sunday. I hope the weather is better wherever you are.

Have a great weekend!