Dr. Chui

Well, we are still waiting, but it doesn't look good. We picked up Angie at work and took her with us to see Dr. Chui. He was not able to attend the meeting at OHSU last Monday, but plans to attend a meeting at 5 today. He had called Dr. Gross with some questions about radiation and Dr. Gross returned the call while we were there. I guess they had radiated some in the area of the new tumor, so that rules out any radiation. The tumor (or possibly 2 spots) are in a very bad spot - at the base of the skull where the brain stem attaches. This would make operating very risky too. He said there could be cancer in other places that haven't shown up yet and that the cancer returned rather quickly after the radiation. He didn't know we were going to France on May 14, but thought we should go (and get medical evacuation insurance). At this point all they can do is chemotherapy to slow or stabilize the growth. The amount (if any) that they do will depend on what Curt wants to do. The more chem the more it will impact what he will able to do. Chemo is essentially poison. If they gave him enough chemo to kill the cancer, it would kill Curt too. The chemo will also cause nausea, etc. They have some drugs to help with the nausea. The treatment he is considering would be weekly for a half day, and Dr. Chui would like to have it done at OHSU. We can set the schedule. He said that waiting 4 to 6 weeks (after our trip to France) should not make a difference. We asked about a second opinion, and he recommended it. He said Sloan-Kettering in New York is the best in the world (Dr. Gross spent 2 1/2 years there a Senior Fellow). We will wait to hear from OHSU tomorrow before making out next decision. Right now we have another appointment with Dr. Chui next Monday (May 12) at 8:30 AM.