Saturday, March 31, 2007

Sweet Home Chicago!

Hi all...

I'm back in Chicago after a great week home in West Virginia. The weather was warm and it smelled and looked like spring. Who can complain about that? I even carved half a bowl!

As many of you know, we also went down to MD Anderson to check out the prospects there. My tumor is on the left half of my brain in the insula/sylvian fissure region. This makes is extremely difficult to operate on and along with my high level of functioning, it's why the neurosurgeons here decided not to do a craniotomy. That is, their entry route would have been through the Sylvian fissure and it would have been extremely difficult to preserve my speach.

One of the reasons I went down to MD Anderson was to speak with Dr. Lang, who is very well known for this ability to take out these tumors. His general opinion was that it was possible to resect, but that he still had the same reservations that Dr. Prabhu and Dr. Shea had here at Loyola. His inclination, to which I eventually agreed, was to wait 8 weeks until the radiation had taken some time to do its stuff, namely reduce the swelling and shrink the bastard.

My whole problem with waiting is this. I want to have taken the biggest swing at this as I possibly can and do it now. I realize there's a risk (a large one at that) to my speach and to my cognitive abilities, but if I want to have a chance at continuing my career in medicine I need to be recovered by the middle of July. If I don't have the faculties to come back, that's okay, but I will have given it my damn best shot.

The other reason I want surgery now is for a slew of trials. The whole glioblastoma multiforme world stood still for about 50 years as they failed and failed and failed to create treatments. That all changed about two years ago when a few agents showed promise. Now, that means they're all in phase I and II trials now, which means I have to fit their protocol amost exactly to get the treatment. That means surgery if I want to have a shot at these things.

Anyhow, so we decided to wait 8 weeks until we can see another MRI. Now I'm back here and I'll audit classes (to see how my own cognitive ability is coming along.) I'll probably miss a good portion of the classes for Drs. appointments and road trips, but that's all good by me. And you can be sure that I'll be out of your hair by the end of April so that you can get excellent board studying done!

Anyhow, peace out!

Mike

P.S. It's come to my attention that there's some distress about HIPAA and privacy laws with regards to my case. I want you to know that you are all my friends and you should feel free to speak to whomever you like and whenever you like. All of this and everything I've told you is free to talk about. I'd much rather have this crappy truth out there than crappy rumors. There is no HIPAA between us. All I ask is that you should respect people's personal feeling with regard to my situation. That is, if someone doesn't want to talk about it, just don't talk about it. Also, I appreciate my official medical record and people involved in my care to be kept private. Thanks so much!

Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Starting off on a new foot!

So I've finished with the chemo and radiation... which is daaaamn good! It's already one day past and I feel spectacular. I still have a little headache which comes and goes and I'm still a little tired... but all of that is quickly fading.

I spoke with the neurologist today and he reaffirmed that I'm clear to drive and (on alternative times ha!) drink. So pretty much med school is back on!! I'll just be shadowing classes until I pick up where I left off last year. All of you who are out there wondering... I should be back on April 2.

In the interim, I'll be heading out to West "by god" Virginia for a little relaxation and belated spring break. In the middle of that, I'll be going down to Houston to take part in a little fundraiser for brain cancer folks as well as a chat with some folks at MD Anderson who have some clinical trials.

Anyhow... that's the update! Take it easy!

Introduction

Well lets talk about the other top stuff. Basically, I didn't think there was anything wrong with me along my birthday last year 12-2-06. At 12-5-06 I started having some dysthesias along my right side. My Primary Care Practitioner felt that it probably wasn't anything, so he felt that I should let it go for a month and if there was anything thing still up, I should call him back.

A month later, the episodes were still happening so I called up my PCP to find out what to do. He felt that I could still go to see a neurologist. I got on for the next weekend. The neurologist also didn't feel like there was anything to worry about but there where something with my olefactory halucinations which made her curious. She scheduled an MRI for the end of the week. That MRI was on Friday... and Saturday would change my life for ever.

Ultimately, I have a Glioblastoma Multiforme. It's stage IV, the highest you can get. It's a primary brain tumor of the central nervous system, so the rest of my body is normal. There are a handful of things which we can do to help placate it... most of which we are doing now. I've been on chemo and radiation and and will be on those for another month or so.

So anyhow, I'm young and hopeful and I'm resiliant!!! I really appreciate everybody who's come to wish me luck... my stack of papers is just too high. All the best, and I'll keep updating this with the latest and greatest news from me. I'll try to alter it more than once a year! And yes... for those of you who are wondering, 2009 was a little too low... 2010 is quite for me!