Going forward, each additional round of chemotherapy will be scheduled for approximately every 3 1/2 weeks. Thus, Round #7 will start on Thursday, July 18th, and Round #8 will start on Monday, August 12th. The dosage will remain unchanged: 1.0 mg/m2. The reason for this minor alteration is because doing chemo every 3 weeks is noticeably harder than every 4 weeks. I sense the difference with bloating, fatigue, and nausea. Plus, it means making a few more trips to the oncologist's office. So we're going to try it at 3 1/2 weeks and go from there. If it's still too much (either physically or personally), we'll drop down to every 4 weeks.
Shrinkage
Several people have asked me about my total tumor shrinkage since I was diagnosed back in January 2019. I'm not a Radiologist (nor should I play one on this blog), but using some basic mathematical stills, I believe the tumor has shrunk about 19% since January. I think that's fantastic!
Start Spreading the News . . . I'm Leaving Today In About 2 1/2 Weeks!
For the last 2 months, I've been interested in seeking a second opinion about my treatment. Given that it appears as though I will be on the Yondelis regimen for many months to come, I want to be sure this is, in fact, the very best treatment I can get. If there are any Phase III clinical trials available, or even something on the horizon, I might just be interested.
The other reason for the trip is to get a second surgical opinion. As you may recall, an extended hemipelvectomy was recommended in my case. But given how radical that approach is, I wonder if there isn't some other option? Perhaps it's just best to skip the surgery altogether and stick with chemotherapy. Or, after a certain amount of chemotherapy, we switch to proton radiation. I definitely want to get an answer to that.
So, with those goals in mind, I have selected Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) in NYC as the location for my second opinion. MSK is a National Cancer Institute (NCI) designated facility that, as best as I can tell, leads the pack in terms of developing new drugs and treatments that specifically target a certain tumor type. Furthermore, they have some of the very best surgeons around. Tentatively, I am scheduled to see them later this month on July 29 - 30. Details should get finalized tomorrow.
Likely the next time you'll hear from me is when I get back from MSK. I'm sure I'll have plenty to share at that time.
