Medical Update

I'm sure several of you are wondering about what is going with my cancer this week. Not too much has changed since the weekend, but here's a brief medical update to catch everyone up to speed. For now, I am doing the preliminary work of finalizing which doctors I will be working with and getting a few more tests done.
On Monday I spoke with a Kidney cancer specialist in Miami that specializes in my type of cancer. He asked that I go for three additional tests: a complete body CT scan to rule out any spread of the cancer anywhere else in the body; some comprehensive blood work to also determine the severity of the cancer; and a sonogram.  With the above three tests, he would be able to better determine the outcome and prognosis of the disease.  Based on the tests thus far, he recommends immunotherapy treatment before any surgery.  The doctor recommends immunotherapy for those patients that are strong enough to withstand the side effects. Apparently the side effects are much worse than chemotherapy or radiation. It appears that immunotherapy is the way to go, but we will not move forward until we get a second opinion and complete the other tests.   The doctor told me that the type of cancer I have is often recurring, so he does not recommend a full removal of the kidney for patients my age. 


We returned to D.C. today in time for my doctors appointment on Thursday, but the insurance company notified me that it only pays for no more than two second opinions, so we are saving the second opinion for our appointment at Johns Hopkins in mid-January. Instead, I have  second interview with a potential employer that I had interviewed right before Xmas. Hopefully that will be the last of my interviews for the time being.
Eliana and I will most likely return to Florida soon to get the tests done there and come back to DC to meet the doctors at Johns Hopkins. Good thing Eliana travels well..