Imagine my surprise last Monday when I met with my brain surgeon and I learned that I actually have two new brain tumors. Both are located near the hippocampus. The one on the right side is about 1 cm and the one on the left side is approximately 6 mm.
Dr. Mittal recommended using gamma knife to get rid of them rather than 1) resecting them - as a third craniotomy in such a short time is not advised. 2) treating them with whole brain radiation since this represents the trump card he would like to save until necessary.
When I met with my oncologist on Tuesday, he indicated that it is time to "stop chasing the tumors" and the best course of action would be to "get ahead of the tumors". My options to do so would involve using whole brain radiation (which would potentially destroy the other cancer cells that are present but not yet visible) or to begin taking the drug Vemurafinib - which the FDA just approved last August (to shrink the present tumors and inhibit the growth of new ones).
When Keith asked what Dr. Flaherty what he would do if it was his wife in my situation, he said he would have her take the drug.
The thing that causes the most concern about selecting to take the drug as treatment is the size of the larger tumor. At 1 cm, it is already at the size limit for successful treatment via gamma knife radiosurgery. Since it will take a few weeks to navigate the protocol required to receive the cancer drug, and because the tumor grew to this size in only 4 weeks, there is the possibility that the tumor will become so large it would have to be resected via craniotomy in the future.
The catch 22 is that you can't qualify for the drug unless you have a brain tumor of at least 5 mm. In a perfect world, we would destroy the current tumors and take the drug to prevent new ones. However, the only way to tell if the drug works for me is to witness the shrinking of the tumors.
My brilliant husband proposed the following: could we gamma knife only the large tumor to eliminate the worry? Thereby leaving the smaller one to keep me eligible for the clinical trial for Vemurafinib. Dr. Flaherty agreed to discuss it with Dr. Mittal, who not only concurred, but presented the idea to the tumor board who approved the idea.
Therefore, I have already signed the paperwork to be in the current research study for Vemurafinib (hopefully I can obtain the drug within a few weeks) and I will be at Karmanos at 6 AM on Tuesday to receive gamma knife on my larger tumor.
It's wonderful to have options as I make this journey and a blessing to have people to support us through this difficult time. Winston Churchill said: "If you are going through hell, keep going." Melanoma better get out of the way because I'm still coming.
Go Team Studzinski! We're rooting for you!
ReplyDeleteLove,
Angela
Dr Keith to the rescue - a cocktail of treatments! I so agree with the question to the doctor also on what you would do if it was your wife, daughter, son, family, etc. It's puts the perspective in the doctor's head in a different place. Keep the faith - your are in my thoughts all of the time.
ReplyDeleteLove from your cousin Mary K