Could it get any busier?

It's Monday morning, and we are sitting at home after Tony and Beth's visit this weekend. Last week was a blur of new information and appointments. Tuesday morning we met with another Radiation Oncologist at University Pointe, who explained the Stereotactic Radiation procedure to us. This is the procedure that hopefully will kill the brain tumor in one treatment rather than 10 or more whole brain radiation treatments. In the afternoon we met with our regular oncologist, Dr. Bhandari. Since the tumors were growing again, he is concerned that Sutent might be losing its effectiveness already. He had talked to us last week on the phone about starting another form of treatment (Torisel), and we went to the appointment fully expecting to start on that. But since last week, Bhandari had talked on the phone with Dr. Atkins, the doctor whom we saw in Boston for the IL-2 treatments, who has treated a lot more cases of kidney cancer. He told Bhandari that his experience was that when Sutent becomes ineffective, the other treatments tend not to be as effective either. But he has had success in combining Sutent with another drug (Gemzar), which seems to help Sutent regain its effectiveness. The treatment is so new that Bhandari had not heard of it before, because they had not yet published the results. An hour later, Linda was getting an intravenous drip of Gemzar, which she will now get every week, in addition to the Sutent. Fortunately there were no additional side effects from this teatment, and Linda's energy level has been fairly high this past week. Bhandari said he will order CT scans in a month to see if this is working.

Friday we went back to University Pointe to get the mask made for the brain radiation procedure. They make a molded mask that fits over Linda's head, in order to hold it in the precise position necessary for the radiation procedure. Tomorrow morning we go for more imaging measurements in preparation of the procedure which is scheduled for next Tuesday the 22nd. Then off to Bhandari's office in the afternoon for another Gemzar treatment.

Fortunately we were able to work around all these appointments and plan a trip to Wilmington to visit Andrea and Chris this weekend. We're crossing our fingers and hoping our energy level stays up so we can make this trip. We have been very lucky to see the kids as often as we have. Tony and Beth came in last Thursday and stayed till Sunday night. Friday afternoon after the appointments, Linda, Tony and Beth went to Sharon Woods and got a chance to enjoy the beautiful spring weather before the it turned cold again. Just having them home provides comfort and support when we need it the most. Thanks for your continued prayers and support, and especially for your comments to the blog.


Love to you all,
Linda and Jim