A Fairly Good Report

Today we made our way up to UCLA through the wind and the rain that has arrived in southern California. After Michael had his blood drawn, we met with his oncologist. He told us that unfortunately the radiology report compared May's CT scan to this month's scan, and that's not what he was looking for. He wanted to compare this month's scans to August's scans, but UCLA did not have those on hand. He asked that we return to Hoag and get a copy of the original films so that his radiologist can do a new report. Michael will take care of that tomorrow.

But, he said that he can see that Michael is deriving a "clinical benefit" from the Sutent. In other words, it is obvious that he is better off now than he was prior to taking the Sutent. However, he told us that the sores on Michael's head are RCC mets. If the Sutent doesn't get them under control, then Michael may have to have some targeted radiation therapy for them.

The doctor also said that it was much too premature for Michael to return to work, and he wouldn't speculate as to when Michael might be well enough to do so.

The bloodwork ruled out the possibility that Michael has pancreatitis, so he will start this cycle of Sutent tonight. That is very good news. It is likely that Michael's stomach aches are from all the coughing instead. We all had a good chuckle when Michael tried to tell the doctor that his stomach feels "funky". Dr. K good-naturedly told Michael that "funky" was not a medical term, and that he was going to have to elaborate on that. We feel so fortunate - so blessed - to have Dr. K. as our oncologist. He shows Michael genuine care and concern, and he affectionately rubbed his back and his shoulders while Michael had a little coughing fit. He also had a medical student with him today, and he seems to be as good with his students as he is with his patients.

So, we'll wait until later this week or sometime next week for more information about the results of the CT scan, but I'm not expecting any great surprises.