Clinical Trial Consult Went Well

Roni and I met with Dr. Smith, who is running the clinical trial here in NYC. He said that after looking over all of my test results, everything looks good for proceeding with the macrobeads. All of my tests came back fine. The CEA did go up again, but that's not surprising as we do know there is still tumor, and it is still growing.

The only bad news, which isn't really "bad", is that I will not be able to have the macrobead surgery this Friday. We were hoping I would be able to have it, to get it over and done with, but the surgeon is not available this week, and the OR is not available next. So surgery is now planned for Friday, June 18th.

Since we live in the Bronx, they will want us to stay in the Helmsley Towers, near the hospital, the night before the surgery, because the surgery is done early in the morning. They said they will also want us to stay the night after "just in case". The good news here is that all of that is paid for by the clinical trial. No out of pocket expenses for us at all.

Physically, I am doing OK, but I still have this pain in my left ribs. It seems to be getitng worse. The pain seems to begin in the left ribs, but it radiates out to my lower back, left arm, shoulder, etc. The PET/CT scan showed some tumor in that area, near the kidneys, so we are assuming that is what is causing the pain. The docs have prescribed Oxycontin and Oxycodone (Percocet) to help with the pain. The Oxycontin is supposed to last 12 hours, but it only lasts half that, if I'm lucky. The Oxycodone helps take up the slack of the Oxycontin, but after a few hours, that wears off too. So now it seems I am either in pain, or knocked out with narcotics. I am seeing a doctor who specializes in dealing with pain on Monday, June 7th, so I am hoping he can get to the bottom of this, help alleviate the pain, and do it without me being doped up on drugs.

Other doctor appointments I have coming up is one with the doctor who did the radiation in Jan/Feb of this year. I see him tomorrow morning, at which time I will let him know the radiation did no good whatsoever. And next Wednesday, I meet with the surgeon who will be doing the macrobeads insertion. It seems like my life revolves around medical tests and doctors. I guess being part of a clinical trial, I better get used to that.

Well, that's the medical news for now. As things progress, we'll keep you updated.

Kevin