We had a big day at Jeff, being there for nearly 4 hours. First, of course, I had the obligatory blood tests. Then we had a long talk with NP Eleanor, who was very friendly and knowledgeable, and then with Dr. Littman, who was the same, and some followup with Eleanor. We discussed many things and went through Dr. Diaz's initial list of likely protocols. We've decided to go with Folfurinox, which may be the most promising drug protocol being used today and is composed of four drugs. It can have many side effects, which were discussed, but they thought Gemsar/Abraxane, the other leading cnadidate, could be just as bad. They would monitor me closely and see me at each IV treatment to see if anything needs to be changed or I need anything to deal with the side effects, of which nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, feeling cold and tiredness, are the most common. Sounds like a lot of fun. I would get the four drugs once every two weeks by IV and then have some sort of pump attached for two days thereafter that would pump more of the same drugs into me. I also will be getting a port, a permanent IV type device, in my chest but my white blood count was a little low so I need a blood test next Monday to see if the count is back up so I can get the port. The port will eliminate most needles that I would otherwise be getting and is very common in this situation. Aug 18 is the tentative date to begin chemo although if I get the port in time, I might start Aug. 15. A lot of my test results were positive in that the cancer did not seem to be spreading and other organs seemed healthy. Littman claimed their results at Jeff are better than the current statistics. It certainly will be a lot easier to go to Jeff, about 15 blocks away, than Hopkins; and they are a much more patient friendly group. Speaking of Hopkins, we keep hearing from others about its patient unfriendliness. A friend of a friend from Baltimore said Hopkins has had this reputation for a long time. A neighbor here said her son interviewed at Hopkins recently for a psychiatric residency. He was put off by the fact that they only talked about how great they were and didn't show an interest in him so he decided he didn't want to be there. This same neighbor knew someone who traveled to Hopkins (not sure from where) for a specific protocol and was told when she got there that they didn't do it anymore; but they didn't have the courtesy to call her in advance to save the trip. Obviously, Hopkins is a great hospital and keeps its reputation as the best but it really should work on dealing with patients better.
On a much lighter note, the Inquirer had a brief article last week mentioning Linda's retirement from CLI. The article was in section called News in Brief and contained 4 articles in this order and with these titles: 1. 1 killed, 1 hurt in separate shootings; 2. U. Dublin teacher waives hearing on sex charges; 3. Convicted bank robber sought in several holdups; and 4. Founder of literacy project stepping down. Linda wondered if they got the info about her from the police blotter.
Hope all is well,
Elkan - Monday evening
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