Ramping up....

Sorry… didn’t mean to keep you all hanging on the edge.
And I’m sorry if this doesn’t read all that well but I’m kind of tired at the moment. However, I want to get this info out to everyone while I have the chance.

The pace is quickening a bit in the steps leading up to treatment. Since my last post I have had blood work done at Dr. Richards office for pre-mediport testing and office visits with gastro docs Dr. Fidanzato and Dr. Dahr.

It looks like the endoscopic ultrasound may get postponed since it won’t really have any bearing on the initial treatment protocol. But I am scheduled for both a MUGA scan and MRI of the abdomen on Monday. I’m glad that we were able to get these through insurance approval so quickly because we’ll be able to take the results with us when we go to Sloan-Kettering next Wednesday. It’s when I see Dr. Meng at MSKCC that I expect to hear about the treatment protocol he’s been discussing with Dr. Richards. As I had mentioned in my last post the chemo protocol will be different this time around so I’m eager to learn about the drugs that we’ll be using and just as importantly the details for how they’ll be administered. My specific interest there is to know whether I’ll have to use a pump as I did last time. Wearing the pump for 5-days for each treatment was nasty.

Mixed in with this whirlwind of tests and doctor visits we are squeezing in the last two important college campus visits for Sasha. We’re heading down to North Carolina tomorrow to visit NC State and the following weekend to Colorado to see Colorado State. She has been accepted by both schools and they are both on the short list for a final decision.

We return from Colorado on the evening of February 10th and I’m scheduled to have the mediport put in on the 11th. I’d expect that chemo will begin on the 12th or 13th.

As I’ve asked before, are we having fun yet? LOL.

Yeah, I’m still kind of angry about all of this but generally I’m in the same positive mindset as last time. I’m trying to get myself setup to be able to get some exercise here at home. In that regard an old college track buddy of mine, Ed McNeill (owner of the Lawrenceville Gold’s Gym), is helping to set me up with a spin bike. He said that he’s going to give it to me. How cool is that!?! He doesn’t know it but that immediately makes him an honorary Mintz’s Mentsch. LOL

To be continued…

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

At this point many readers of my blog are already aware of this but for those that I haven’t managed to call or copy on an email yet….

I know this comes totally out of left field but I need to clue you in on the fact that as of this week I'm in cancer recurrence mode.

I had a PET/CT scan on Monday the 19th that showed a couple of spots that require attention. One is the "original source" of the cancer at the GE junction. It is a bit more prominent of an issue then when it also showed up on my October scan. In October I had a PET/CT that flagged this same spot and I followed up with an endoscopy/biopsy that proved negative so all was good. At this moment it's not entirely clear just how significant this particular spot is but there's now mention of "slightly more mass-like" whereas in October it was just "increased metabolic activity".

There's also a spot on the liver (there was one on the liver last year as well...) that the PET/CT report has flagged as cancer.

So it's very much like deja vu all over again. We’re in the process of scheduling an MRI as well as an endoscopic ultrasound... With those in hand we venture back to Sloan-Kettering on February 4th since they drove the chemo decisions last time and since Dr. Richards said we wouldn't be using the same chemo protocol again. The idea there is that while the cancer went away it also came back... that maybe we should try something different this time.

From what I know right now, and based on my extensive medical background (LOL), we can view all of this as somewhat "less" then last time around. Bottom line though is that while there's still a bit of testing and diagnosis to be done it seems clear that I'll be on some type of chemo in the near future.

More info to follow as it becomes available.