December 20, 2005

A partial answer....and some hope....

We just left Dr. Davis, as I said before, he's an awesome doctor, I challenge you to find one with a better "bed side manner".

After discussing my situation with him we agreed that the next step should be Chemo. Radiation is not required at this point because my back pain is not constant, not debilitating. Additionally, radiation is used as a pain reliever, not a curing agent.
We discussed Mayo, Sloan-Kettering, etc. with Dr. Davis but Mary and I are not real comfortable with those options. The reasons are this; 1) the "standard" next step is chemotherapy using a drug called Taxotere. This can be administered locally here in Kansas City. If we went to one of these other facilities it would be to explore any clinical trials. However, as a participant in a trial there is no guarantee I would receive anything other than Taxotere, especially at this stage. A clinical trial is basically a crap shoot, a lottery, a chance we don’t want to take at this point. 2) Based on my case and history, I might not even qualify for the trial.

Given these two items, we are meeting with an Oncologist here locally next week. After that meeting I will have bones scans, CT Scans, possibly MRI's again and then begin a chemo regiment. The timing of all these events and our schedules for the next several weeks are now in flux. However, nothing happens until after Christmas!!
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One item to note is that there are documented instances where Taxotere has been very successful in managing cancer at my stage! This was news to us both! We are not getting too far ahead of ourselves but finally a small speck of encouragement!

2 comments:

John Wagner said...

As long as there is breath in our bodies, there is hope, especially in this season of hope. As I said before, I admire your courage. Prayers still rising and will continue. Now, I pray that you and your family are able to celebrate a most joyous and blessed CHRISTmas.

Anonymous said...

May God give you and your family peace and love this Christmas. We will keep you in our prayers. God bless and Merry Christmas.