Update... Better news from new doc :)

Hi All,

I hope you all are doing well this week!

After leaving the meeting with the first oncologist I saw here in Sacramento, Dena and I felt like there was no hope and my days were numbered. Obviously we wanted a second opinion who might offer us a small glimmer of hope. My mom & I met with a second oncologist, Dr. Grennan, last week and we were pleasantly surprised to find him much more optomistic with plans B, C & D available as possibilities if the chemotherapy I'm doing now doesn't produce the results we're hoping for. At the same time, he says that he has a lot of confidence that this chemo should work, since it did the trick on my earlier tumor. Like my oncologist back in Santa Clara who said he had been treating someone with my type of disease for nearly 20 years, Dr. Grennan said that he has had the same success with another patient for a similar amount of time.

He also said that there is a possibility that if we treat these tumors and 1 or 2 are stubborn and don't respond to the chemo, there is a possibility of using gamma knife radiation on a couple individual tumors. This was exciting news since I had previously been told that gamma knife was not an option for me. Dr. Grennan also said that Kaiser has a new neuro-oncology department in Redwood City that works with the neuro-oncology department at UCSF, one of the best neuro-oncology centers in the country where there are often studies being done on new treatments. Though I don't want false hope, it was really nice to leave a consultation with a bit of a feeling of optomism :-)

I also saw a new neurologist last week. He's switching me to a new anti-seisure medication called Keppra because the one I've been on for 6 years, Tegretol, speeds up how my liver metabolizes medications I take, including the chemotherapy I'm doing and may make it less effective than it should be. I've been slowly increasing the dosage and just realized in the last couple days that I'm having some pretty crazy side effects. It's been making me REALLY fatigued and moody with barely enough energy to make it to school and work. Then last night I had major chest pain, pain in my left arm, nausea and a headache, totally making me think I was having a stroke or heart attack. I called my neighbor, Supriya, in a total panic and she called 911 for me and came over to help calm me down. When the ambulance came, the hot guys in uniform checked my heart rate and blood pressure and everything was totally normal. After they left, Supriya (who, to my good fortune, is doing her residency, becoming a world-class psychiatrist) helped me understand what I was experiencing was actually probably a panic attack. She told me to take a couple ibuprofen to help my chest and arm muscles relax, and I fell asleep within about a half hour.

Needless to say, I didn't make it to my 6am class today, but I felt SO much better and was able to get some stuff done that I've been too tired to do for the last couple weeks. After all this drama, I'm feeling pretty good going into my finals tomorrow and Friday. I have to make marshmallows, candied orange peels, triple chocolate mousse towers, free form chocolate truffles, moulded chocolate truffles, petit fours and peanut brittle, all in 7 1/2 hours! Wish me luck!!!

Love you all!!!!!