Medical Update -- 5/13/09

(I will try to keep this short but informative, as Deb and I have a meeting in Philadelphia at the U of P Hospital with one of their primary head/neck cancer guys early tomorrow.)

After the first surgery (to remove the first lymph node for biopsy), the evidence seemed pretty clear that we were dealing with a fairly run-of-the-mill cancer. One that has an extensive clinical history, and standard protocols for treatment. (Now, this is me talking and I may have to correct this statement in a future posting. But that's my understanding right now.)

After this surgery (to remove a considerably larger set of tissues), this is not the case. My cancer is an unusual condition called "high-grade salivary duct carcinoma with micropapillary pattern." Please don't ask me to explain any of that -- but please feel free to "Comment" on it if you know something about it.

Since this condition is unusual, the medical history is not nearly as complete, and Dr. Chuma is helping to set up a series of meetings with doctors who will have much more information to provide -- and recommendations for future treatment.

So this is good news sandwiched in the bad news: not a lot of people know much about this, so we can call in some high-level experts to help us out because they will be interested in the case!! So we've got the beginnings of a plan.

And the next logical step in the treatment is radiation therapy, which can't start until the tissue that's left in the area of the excision heals thoroughly. For which Dr. Chuma is allocating a month. So we've got the beginnings of a plan with time to invest in making sure the plan is thoroughly worked out.

I believe Dr. Chuma said he's pretty sure he removed all of the primary tumor site, which means that what's left over is (in his words) "microscopic particles" of malignant tissue which are contained in a relatively small area. (Once again, please note that all of this is subject to change without notice. We're all working to clarify this picture!)

Many thanks to all of you for your interest in and your caring about my journey. I don't believe any of you -- unless you've walked this path yourself -- can understand how immensely your love and compassion strengthen me.