Appointment with Dr. Chui

Curt has an appointment with Dr. Chui at OHSU next Monday (May 5) at 11:30 AM. He is the oncologist who we hope will tell us about a treatment.
Curt is keeping active. He played doubles tennis on Monday and is going to play singles tomorrow. He might go to the men's softball practice tomorrow too (it will probably be rained out). Last Sunday he went to the coed softball practice. The past couple days he has been busy planting flowers in the yard. He has even gained a couple pounds. He still has some dizzy spells though.
We leave for our Rick Steves Tour of France on May 14 and will return (after spending a couple days in Germany) on June 4.
More after next Monday.

Dr. Gross

Dr. Gross called late this afternoon. He told us to go to France. He had talked with Dr. Delashaw about operating, and they both agreed it was not worth it. It would be major surgery again and likely not be able to remove all the cancer. They both thought Curt's being light headed and losing weight were signs it was cancer. Dr. Gross is going to bring Curt's case before their board (I forget what he called it) when they meet this Monday. He is also going to have Curt see Dr. Chui at OHSU (who has an interest in innovative strategies to treat malignancies, according to information on the web) before we leave for France. They will probably start chemo therapy when we return. OHSU will set up the procedure and Curt can probably have it done in Corvallis again. Curt should eat as much as he can and keep hydrated. Dr. Gross said this is a moderately progressing cancer, but it can progress at different rates. Maybe it will be stable for awhile. As it progresses Curt could start to feel pain. Dr. Gross said to live life to the fullest.

Bad News

We were surprised to get a call from Dr. Gross this afternoon about the results from the MRI and PET scan. He thinks (although he is not 100%) the cancer has returned near the trigeminal nerve (which was removed earlier) where the first cancer appeared. He has a message in to Dr. Delashaw (the neurosurgeon) about whether he thinks it is operable. Dr. Gross is not optimistic since they have both operated and radiated twice in that area already. Radiation is not an option because of all the radiation in that area that he has already received. There is no "textbook" chemotherapy for this type (or location) of cancer because it is so uncommon, but they could try something. Dr. Gross is going to talk to Dr. Holland about this. If they think nothing can be done, they will do all they can to improve his quality of life, and we should go on our tour of France. We will wait to see what they decide. Dr. Gross said he would call us on our cell phone this week since we will be gone (the coast 2 nights and at Bakers 2 nights). If we have not heard from him by Thursday, we are to call his office. We will let you know if we learn anything.

March/April Checkups

On March 17 Curt had his annual checkup with his Corvallis doctor (Wirth) and then had lab work (including an EKG) done a couple days later. After 3 weeks we finally had to go to the Clinic to get the printed results of that. They said everything was okay (i.e. cholesterol of 159).
On Sunday (April 13) we stayed with Bakers' overnight so Curt could get to his PET scan at OHSU at 9 AM on Monday. After that we had an enjoyable lunch with some "old" friends (Jack and Sue Hufford) from Michigan who were in Portland visiting their son. They came to OHSU and we took the Tram down and then hopped on the Max train to downtown for lunch and came back the same way. Curt had appointments with Drs. Wax and Gross at 2 PM. Curt's eye is still bothering him (watering (which requires eye drops) and a little blockage of vision). He had a little trouble at first hitting the softball at practice on Sunday. Dr. Wax also noted the displacement of his jaw and left lip. The removal of part of his jawbone is a big factor. This makes it very difficult for Curt to chew and bite. He also has not regained much (if any) feeling in that side of his face (I guess Dr. Wax grafted a nerve there). I guess one good thing is that the radiation has permanently removed his whiskers on the left side (no shaving). His weight is down to 154 lbs. now. Dr. Wax doesn't want to do any more corrective surgery for awhile. Another "problem" is the hernia in his stomach caused by the removal of some muscle there to be used as filler in his jaw. This could be corrected in Corvallis at a later time.
The biggest concern raised was when Dr. Gross noted a "hot spot" on the PET scan that is near the removed tumor. Dr. Gross pointed above his ear and said it was at the base of his skull. He wanted Curt to have an MRI soon. We could not get in that afternoon, so we returned today at 11 AM for that. While they were doing the MRI, the machine broke down. So it took over 2 hours to get this done. We now have to wait to hear from Dr. Gross. Curt has also had been lightheaded at times - especially while playing tennis or other activities. He quit playing a singles match about a week ago because of this. Right now he is hauling bark mulch for our yard.