He will have no fear of bad news, his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord. Psalm 112:7

Thursday, April 7, 2011

3rd Opinion

We got our 3rd opinion yesterday from Dr. Sharma.  He's head of the GI dept down at UofL's James Graham Brown Cancer Center.  He's the guy that runs things and teaches the fellow's that go through UofL's medical program for GI stuff.  He's an opinion I very much value.  He first suggested that we switch to a different treatment which was called Gemzar GTX which is a different drug combination than what I am on now.  The more we talked, he actually changed his recommendation to continue what I am now on which is called folfiri.  If you remember, I was on folfirinox but we dropped the "ox" drug because it fried my fingers and feet.  The rationale is if this is working, why switch to something else.  This does make sense.  A friend of a friend that does this work down at MD Anderson in Houston actually had suggested the same thing.  We've just talked through email with this doctor but this is the first time we've had anyone agree with another doctor.  So far here are options:
1) wait and see - we've pretty much decided this is not best
2) Gemzar and tarceva - the least toxic approach but is a weekly treatment, not as potent but some potency is probably needed.
3) Gemzar GTX - given every 3 weeks, more potent than #2 option, not as potent as my current treatment
4) Folfiri - what I am doing now, maybe the most potent; I'm familiar with it and now what to expect from it; it's worked
5) clinical trial - not sure this is really an option right now as I probably won't qualify for one; I'd have to be regressing which thankfully I am not.

We're going to Vanderbilt on Monday and I'm very much interested in what they have to say.  I will very much value their opinion as they are some of the best in the "biz".  Right now, I'm leaning toward #4 option because it does make sense to continue on what's working and squeeze that dry as long as I can.  I'm curious and haven't asked but if toxicivity is a concern to the doctor to continue on this current treatment, I wonder if doing it every 3 weeks makes more sense than every 2.  I still need to really get a feeling from my current doc.  We've briefly discussed what's next but he's not going to give his recommendation until our appt on the 26th which will include info from a CT scan scheduled the 25th to see what's cancer is still left.  Would be cool if there was none, but even if that's the case, we'd still go through a treatment option because I will never be considered cured as this type of cancer pretty much always resurfaces.  Continue to pray we get good get information and we make the best decision for me and my family so I can hang around here the longest time.

2 comments:

Mindy Hutchins said...

I'm so thankful and praising God that #1 isn't your only option. Options give you opportunities to continue to move forward and I'm glad for you for that.

Rick Blair said...

Have a good trip to Vanderbilt. Let's see if three doctors can agree on the treatment. God Bless.