The visit with the Oncologist.

2014 January, Friday the Third.

The Oncologist suggests extending the Sutent vacation.

Our HMO denies the recommended PET scan.   This may be appealed.

The Oncologist suggests we continue on but have a CT scan instead.

The pain in my left breast is considered and dismissed. 

2013 December

2013 December

The Urologist says that my remaining kidney is doing all the appropriate kidney functions.

He advises that I not hurt the remaining kidney.

Sorry I’ve been silent for so long, but I’ve been enjoying the Sutent vacation. 

What?! Nothing to say?!

Saturday, November 23, 2013

I thought I'd have no medical news until

1.  January and the PET scan, or,
2. The tumors really kicked in.

But it’s neither.  It’s really good news: the further I get from the chemo the better I feel.  It is clearer and clearer that the cure really was worse than the disease.  I feel so much better, it’s like clamps have been taken off my mouth and brain, not to mention the other body parts.

I feel so much better off chemo, it’s going to be hard to get me back on it.  Even though there is a new drug for papillary renal cell carcinoma, Evrolimus, it would take some arm twisting to get me to try it. 

Anyway, the oncologist has said radiation is probably next anyway.   Personally I favor cryoablation, but I don’t know if that is allowed or possible.

So there’s the good news for a change. 

Here’s hoping winter brings you much bonum too.

Ciao,

Thallervale

11/23/2013 7:18 PM

Angiogram

Dear Folks, It's Janet who is going in for an angiogram tomorrow, so light your candles and power up your prayer wheels.

If you fly in your mind over all the homes on the planet, do you find any that are not in need of care?

Maybe that is why it was said "Pray without ceasing" or why the prayer wheels are hooked up to water wheels.  It seems like a very impractical instruction, until you see if from the needs pov.


Janet and I, we do hope, will be home safe and sound this time tomorrow.

Thanks for caring,
Blessings,
Dale

All Saints' Day : Reprieve

Friday, November 01, 2013

REPRIEVE

The visit to the Oncologist was today.  After waiting 6 weeks without chemo to see what the little critters would do, the answer is: not much. 

Some tumors have shrunk, some are indeterminate, and some are growing, but not rapidly.

So the doctor’s advice is to take two months off chemo and check on the critters then, with a PET scan this time, because he knows he needs a better picture, but he also knows it can be difficult to get the HMO to agree to the expense.  We’ve done very well with our HMO  so far, so I can be optimistic.

Two months without chemo is like going on vacation.  Especially as Janet is retiring more and more.  Something we can look forward to in the dark wet winter.

Best to you all and yes, intentions are things.

Thallervale

11/1/2013 7:01 PM

...better as time goes by...

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Feeling better as time goes by

Or, as the toxins go bye-by.  I’m in week two sans Sutent and generally feel better.  The only time I had a week three without some chemo was the week of my retirement party, when I wanted to be less toxic than usual.  Now we are aiming for two months.

This is the second time that the docs have decided that the side-effects (negative) outweigh the benefits.  I think we are waiting for palpable cancer symptoms, and after that, well, I won’t go there now.

I’ve got six weeks during which I can reasonable hope to have better energy and I hope to get some work done.

Blessings.

Thanks.

Ciao.

Thallervale

9/15/2013 11:24 AM

Release!

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

Released.

The good news from the oncologist today is that he is willing, even recommending, a hiatus with the chemo, to give my body a chance to function better for awhile.  Of course the risk is that we are giving the cancer a chance to show its true colors, maybe even parade around strutting a bit.  But Janet and I are delighted at the suggestion.

We are going to try two months san Sutent, and then do another CT scan to see what’s happened.  Just the prospect of being Sutent free until the fall makes me happy.

I had actually asked the oncologist last time if we could take a break from Sutent, but then he did not think it was a good idea.  When I reminded him today that temsirolimus almost killed me he looked surprised.  But he could tell that continuing on Sutent is a sure sentence of chronic discomfort and disability.  So we are going to take a chance and see what the cancer will do without Sutent.  We can always go back to Sutent, he says; best to keep it in the fridge.  

So that’s the good news; that’s what we think is the good news; that’s what we hope will be the good news.  

Aloha,

Thallervale

9/4/2013 7:06 PM