Health Update: Great News!

Hi dear friends,

It’s been a busy week for us, with three medical appointments in three days:

Wednesday, had an MRI at UCSF, followed by an appointment with our neuro-oncologist, Dr. Chang, who was thrilled to tell us that the chemotherapy (Avastin) seems to be doing its magic: MRI showed huge improvement. The main, largest tumor has shrunk considerably and, the tumor mass that remains seems less dense. The other two tumor sites are also smaller, so yay! Things are looking really hopeful for the first time in a long time. Still have a long road ahead of us but at least we have some good news and a good trend.

Unfortunately, Dr. Chang felt I need to be off Avastin for two weeks so that they can place a port for delivering the chemotherapy. My veins are not tolerating the frequent IV access that labs and chemo require, so a "portacath" will be surgically inserted (minor surgery, but still not without its risks), that will enable the nurses to access a semi-permanent medical "appliance" under my skin that connects to a vein. Drugs can be injected through the port, and blood samples can be drawn from the port, so it will decrease the number and discomfort of needle "sticks." (Typically the port is inserted in the upper chest, just below the collar bone and, other than a small amount of pain when accessing the port, it will decrease the pain of starting IVs, delivering the medications and doing labs.) SO, looks like we skip Avastin for a month but given how good my MRI looked, Dr. Chang thinks this is just fine.

Thursday, had my Avastin treatment and that went fine. My labs looked good; no problems there. I AM having mouth soreness, presumably a side effect of the Avastin, and although it’s not comfortable, it’s nothing I can’t tolerate. And it’s possible that the mouth soreness will decrease as I taper my steroids dose (which is happening at about 1 mg decrease every 5 days, and I’m decreasing to 6 mg/day as of today!). The only bummer: my wonderful medical oncologist, Dr. Cassidy, is retiring and he’s handing my care over to a new (new to us) oncologist. I’m sure she's medically quite competent; we’re just hoping she’s got the same kind of wonderful bedside manner that makes Dr. Cassidy so special.

Friday (yesterday), had a pulmonary function test and then saw my pulmonologist, Dr. Kury. My pulmonary function test showed good improvement and Dr. Kury was happy with the results of the test and of my physical exam in her office, with no need to schedule additional exams unless I have a recurrence of pulmonary problems. Yay! One less regular doctor’s appointment to schedule and attend.

So, I do have an appointment with my primary care physician, Dr. Candell, on Tuesday. He manages my overall care, including keeping my blood pressure under control (For the first time in my life, I’m on blood pressure medication. I’ve always had very low BP, but a side effect of the Avastin and steroids is increased BP.) Fortunately my BP has been coming down a bit so maybe I’ll be able to get off the diuretic before too long.

Okay, I think that’s enough to share with you. Just wanted you to know there’s been good news on all the medical fronts after a long haul of medical set-backs.

Love you guys; thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and hearts. We get so much strength from your love and support, you just can’t imagine.

/ab and Kirk