Late June Updates

Friday, June 24, 2011

Late June Updates

I got the results of my latest brain MRI today. In the doctor's words, the results are "no change to slightly better" - no new tumors, small tumors unchanged, and large tumor the same or slightly smaller. There is some scar tissue on the large tumor that we will continue to treat. Hopefully this will help some balance issues that I'm having.

The somewhat bad news is that I will not be able to participate in the ALK mutant gene study at this point. Basically I'm doing too well. Pfizer requires "definite progression of the disease", in other words, getting worse. At this point I'm getting somewhat better with the chemo treatments, so do not fit their criteria. I will stay in touch with the study doctor and continue to look for an opportunity to get into the study.

The next new information will come in late July or August with the next round of scans.

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About Dick

This section provides background on how my cancer was discovered and a few key dates associated with the 2-year journey.

In mid-August 2008, I was taking a shower when I coughed up a small amount of blood. I would probably not have gone to the doctor for that alone, but I already had an appointment for allergy problems. I mentioned it to the doctor at the end of my exam. He thought it was probably nothing, but recommended that I go for a chest x-ray.

An HOUR after the x-ray, he called to say that there was a mass and I should schedule a CT scan immediately.

That led to a visit to the pulmonary doctor, who did a bronchoscopy and a PET scan. On Sept. 10th, he diagnosed me with "non-small cell" lung cancer. The tumor is somewhat larger than a golf ball.

For perspective, I have NEVER smoked. Only 15% of those with lung cancer are non-smokers, and less than half of those are men. Needless to say, I am in the minority in terms of people that get lung cancer. Never the less, it is very real and must be treated aggressively.

On Sept. 29th I had surgery to remove the upper right lobe of my lung, as well as three lymph nodes. The surgery took 2+ hours. I was in the hospital for four days.

On Wednesday October 1 we learned that the pathology report was not good. In addition to the cancer in the upper right lobe of my lung, there was also cancer in at least one lymph node. The pathology clarified that the cancer is adenocarcinoma. While lung cancer is normally associated with smoking, about 10% of the people with this particular type of cancer are non-smokers.

Following surgery, I had chemotherapy from Nov 2008 - Jan 2009, then radiation in Feb & Mar 2009. Scans from May 2009 - Feb 2010 were "clean" with no cancer. On June 2, 2010, an MRI showed a brain tumor. The older updates to this blog track the progress during recovery from surgery, as well as initial chemo and radiation treatments. The more recent entries provide updates on the 2010 brain tumor and treatments.

Dick Clark - Cincinnati

Friday, June 24, 2011