News from Hopkins Oncologist, 10/18/2012

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October 18, 2012

Gentlefolk,

We had our first visit with the medical oncologist at Hopkins today as a follow-up to the finding of malignant cells in the tissue that was removed from my brain last month.

We talked about several options, but at this point he didn’t feel that we had enough data to recommend, or start, a treatment program.  His team, including my neurosurgeon, will talk further, and make a recommendation following my next MRI in early November.

Basically, the previous surgery was quite complete, and the amount of cancerous  tissue found was so small, that there is not really a target to aim at, either medically, or with radiation. (or surgically for that  matter).  There could be some medical treatments called for even if the tumor does not reappear, but that will all pend the reading from the next MRI.  At the moment this is considered good news.

We really like Dr. Grossman, not that we didn’t like our previous oncologist, but Dr. G seems to have a good perspective, and we really like his approach (don’t do anything just to do it.  Don’t do anything that removes down the road options unless there is good reason for it to be done).

While we did talk about some experimental treatments that might involve the National Cancer Institute in DC, many of the options could be administered by the medical team in Wilmington.

While it’s a bit disconcerting to have the can opener of Damocles still poised over my head, it is somewhat reassuring also that a sense of urgency seems to be not too high in their minds.

We will continue to look forward to months and years before son of tumor appears, even as we know that at some point it will reappear and more urgent options will be necessary.

In the meantime we are basking in the glow of the recent visit of my Australian cousin Bob and his wife Robyn, looking forward to hausmusik at Casa Zora coming up, and a visit to the Roswell Stevens at Thanksgiving.  Plans are underway for our church choir’s visit to Prague and Salzburg next year and a golfing outing to Oregon in the late winter or early spring as well.  Life will go on.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers. It really does  make a difference to know you are in my corner.  I continue to recover from the recent surgery, regaining strength and endurance daily.  Mind you, a glass or two of wine at dinnertime doesn’t hurt either.

All for now.

Blessings to all.

Ross

Who are these Me x.y people?

Gentle readers,

I sometimes loosely refer to myself as Me4.0 or 2.0 or whatever.  Having some roots in the scientific tradition it occurs to me that I should identify the naming convention that I use, which is quite strict, so that you the intrepid reader will know which me is which.

The nutshell version is simple:  each major surgery takes "Me" up one full "version", e.g. 3.0.  Other events in between may or may not be represented as incremental upgrades, e.g. 3.1.

For the record, my reconstruction of version numbers is as follows:

Ross Stevens’ timeline

Me 1.0.                   November 29 1943. Wilmington/Seaford Delaware.

Me 1.1.                   1957-1970. Aiken (SC) high school, Georgia Tech, Purdue U

Me 1.2                    1965-1973. M/M Stevens and family

Me 1.3                    1971-1996 DuPont years

Me 1.4.                   1996-2002 Stevens Associates

Me 1.5                     2003 Retirement

Me 2.0                    BS#1 December 7, 2011 GBM (glioblastoma) resected (Weingart, Hopkins)

Me 2.1                    31 December 2011 blackout. Fall. Hematoma abcess

Me 3.0                    January 10 2012 hematoma abcess repair. (Giberson, Christiana Care)

Me 3.x                     January- August recoveries, radiation, chemo, PT, life

Me 4.0                    BS#2 17 September 2012  second resection. Cleaned cavity walls. (Weingart, Hopkins)

PS:  We had a wonderful weekend  cousinly wedding in Greensboro NC.  Fairly long drive back, but the traffic wasn't bad, and neither was the rain.

October 2 2012

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

First post- surgery visit with the neurosurgeon today. Pathology reports on the tissue removed indicate some small quantity of malignant cells present in the material removed.  While not much, I'm afraid it is the equivalent of being a little bit pregnant. Well the stitches are out now in any case. Small progress.

The surgery itself was not difficult, and he felt like it was successful. And it probably was. But it is next to impossible to get it all, especially in the brain. most importantly, however, the radiation and chemo were not successful at stemming the tide of regrowth.

What's next?  We are getting set up with a medical oncologist at Hopkins in the next week or two to discuss options, probably clinical trials. The last round of chemo which was postponed for surgery will be cancelled. More radiation could be in the future, but there's not a big enough target now, there is some risk involved and one only gets two rounds with the zapper.  Our hopes now will hang on what the new oncologist has to say.  Tere will be more frequent MRIs in the future to monitor activity, so I'll get more rounds with the anvil chorus of MRI.

Current meds are being reduced or for steroids, eliminated. golf ok, strenuous exercise another couple weeks. Singing ought to have better sound now that the resonating chamber got enlarged a bit.

Clearly not the news we wanted, but there remain positives on which to clasp.  We know this to be the nature of the beast, and knew that the day would come. There will be worse ones as well, but we are far from there.  I got no symptoms, there is not a mass, there are options to be considered, and I've got the best support team anyone could pray for. Laissez bon temps roullez!

Ross