Martha and I went to UCI today for my 1pm appointment. We met with Dr. Jason Zell for almost 1 hour. He reviewed by medical history, doctor reports and PET Scan pictures/results and performed a brief physical exam.
He felt that my diagnosis process had been done thoroughly and he fully concurred with the full diagnosis. He also agreed with the chemo therapy choice of Gemzar. However, he said he normally prescribes Tarceva along with Gemzar for patients with my diagnosis. He said there was not a lot of data to indicate any strong effect on the added length of time this drug provided, could only be a few weeks. Also, there were side effect issues. He will speak with my oncologist, Dr. Kozmo about this drug.
We also discussed my intermittent issue of sore calf muscles in both my legs. He said that could be an indicator of blood clots. It seems cancer patients are much more likely to develop blood clots. He suggested I get an ultrasound scan of both my legs as soon as possible. If clots are found, then I could be put on blood thinning medicine. We were able to get Aetna insurance to approve the ultrasound scan and that will happen, tomorrow, Wednesday at 3:30pm.
With the exception of the Tarceva and blood clot issues, he said he would not change a thing about my current procedure. He did say he would be available for further consultation in the future. They will be starting some new clinical trials at UCI over the next several months and he will keep us informed as to whether I would be a candidate (if I am interested).
Martha and I felt he was very accomplished, up-to-date on the latest cancer weapons and extremely thorough. I felt satisfied and glad we got the opportunity for a 2nd opinion.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment