Like night and day

[Fed]

Today I had an appointment with the new med onc at the Farber. Wow. What a difference. My new doc was extremely attentive, paid attention to my concerns, did a thorough physical exam, and gave me a well laid out timetable for labs and exams. He pretty much said, as others did, that the case was found early enough to warrant surveillance. He did stress out that he will have a tight leash on me for a couple of reasons: 1) the seminoma was multifocal, which apparently is indeed rare; and 2) my original U/S revealed a 3 mm mass in the remaining one, so I will be having ultrasounds incorporated into the surveillance schedule. Bottom line, the doc change was worth it.

The plan was laid out within reason, and I had no objections to it. So I guess that now, I'm officially on surveillance keeping in mind that I haven't heard back from the Sloan second opinion (my buddy was presenting to Sheinfeld today, so it could be several more hours till I hear back). Situations may change, but it is what it is, and I'll take it as it comes.

I did have one more reason to celebrate. I found out today that my first "first author" research paper was accepted for publication today. It'll be my first contribution to the world of novel cancer therapeutics. It's a tiny step, but that's really how all of our treatments have come to fruition.

Yes, it's time to open the celebratory Scotch. Best to all,

[Already Bald]

Hey Fed,
Sounds like you've had a great day- Between being published and happy with the new doctor- enjoy that scotch!
I have a reason to celebrate today too- today was my final day of chemo!
I have a nurse coming out Sat and Sunday for fluids- than Neulasta on Monday at PENN, then God willing I'll be done!
My CT Scan is being scheduled for late January.

Enjoy your weekeng Fed, but be prepared- Dr. Sheindfeld will probably be more aggressive on your treatments.
Joe

[DianeE]

Hey Fed and Joe,

I raise my glass of vodka to both of you!!! It's always
so nice to hear good news here!!

Diane

[Scott]

Welcome to the surveillance ranks, Fed, and congratulations on being published!

I'm glad things got off to a good start with your new oncologist. A good relationship and sense of trust is so important.

[Michael112]

Good to see you have a good doctor now.

My tumour was multifocal aswell, dont know what that has to do with anything?

[Michael112]

Hey Fed, I asked my oncologist during my 1st apointment about my pathology wich is simular to yours, I had 2 foci as you can see in my signiture, I always asumed multifocal ment 2 difrent consistancies of solidness in an individual tumour, although now I think it means more then 1 primary??

I asked him about heterogenouses etc, he said its irrelevant, he is a directory of medical oncology so I trust him although his specialty is brain tumours and breast cancer.

He said necrosis is due to the tumour not getting enough blood, they try make there own blood supply, necrotic tumour = dead tumour.

What happens is we would of had Carcinoma in situ, wich is precancerous cells, then they turn into tumours wich can take even 10 years, thats why you get more then 1 primary.

I dont see how this increases risk of re-ocurrance.

[Savin16]

Fed,
Great news on both, you must be so happy. Good for you.

[mstlyn]

Today I had an appointment with the new med onc at the Farber. Wow. What a difference. My new doc was extremely attentive, paid attention to my concerns, did a thorough physical exam, and gave me a well laid out timetable for labs and exams. He pretty much said, as others did, that the case was found early enough to warrant surveillance. He did stress out that he will have a tight leash on me for a couple of reasons: 1) the seminoma was multifocal, which apparently is indeed rare; and 2) my original U/S revealed a 3 mm mass in the remaining one, so I will be having ultrasounds incorporated into the surveillance schedule. Bottom line, the doc change was worth it.

The plan was laid out within reason, and I had no objections to it. So I guess that now, I'm officially on surveillance keeping in mind that I haven't heard back from the Sloan second opinion (my buddy was presenting to Sheinfeld today, so it could be several more hours till I hear back). Situations may change, but it is what it is, and I'll take it as it comes.

I did have one more reason to celebrate. I found out today that my first "first author" research paper was accepted for publication today. It'll be my first contribution to the world of novel cancer therapeutics. It's a tiny step, but that's really how all of our treatments have come to fruition.

Yes, it's time to open the celebratory Scotch. Best to all,

Hey Fed, I am glad to hear you found a new doctor that is on his toes and you feel confidant in. That is so important for anyone that is dealing with something as scary as cancer. Wonderful ..
I don't drink scotch, but CHEERS!

[Fed]

I have a reason to celebrate today too- today was my final day of chemo!

This is great, Joe! See? You could totally pull it off. Congratulations on such a great accomplishment! Best of luck with the recovery,

[QuantumSheep]

This is a great day!

Fed and Joe -- I will raise a special pint to both of you this evening, it's truly a day for celebration for you both!!

I was feeling "irrational amounts of exuberance" today, don't know why, so it's good to have an outlet to direct it to ... !!

Fed, I'm sure you perhaps wrote about this in another thread ... but I'd love to hear more about exactly what it is that you're getting published?

Congrats again!
Scott

[Fed]

They concur!

Got the call from the pathology department at Sloan concurring with the original assessment from BWH. So, surveillance it is! I am comforted by the fact that the first "formal" follow-up is in 4 weeks. Besides, I got other things cooking right now which should keep me distracted.

Fed, I'm sure you perhaps wrote about this in another thread ... but I'd love to hear more about exactly what it is that you're getting published?

My postdoc work is finally getting out. I've been doing cancer chemical biology; our lab designs and makes synthetic molecules that we then use to study cancer processes. We're working on controlling the pathway that makes cancer cells unaware that they are supposed to stop dividing. There's a tiny blurb about it in my first thread. Studying this forces me to understand how these renegade cells operate at the molecular level. Kind of ironic that they've turned into my personal enemy.

[Scott]

Got the call from the pathology department at Sloan concurring with the original assessment from BWH. So, surveillance it is!

Great news, Fed!

[djmac]

Got the call from the pathology department at Sloan concurring with the original assessment from BWH. So, surveillance it is! I am comforted by the fact that the first "formal" follow-up is in 4 weeks. Besides, I got other things cooking right now which should keep me distracted.



My postdoc work is finally getting out. I've been doing cancer chemical biology; our lab designs and makes synthetic molecules that we then use to study cancer processes. We're working on controlling the pathway that makes cancer cells unaware that they are supposed to stop dividing. There's a tiny blurb about it in my first thread. Studying this forces me to understand how these renegade cells operate at the molecular level. Kind of ironic that they've turned into my personal enemy.

Fed Congrats on your publication, and may you have many, many more! Also, congrats on your path forward with surveillance. My first CT is on the 29th ( a little bit longer than 3.5 months) so I'll let you all know how all goes!

djm

PS Did you get to talk with Dr. Sheinfeld?

[Fed]

My first CT is on the 29th (a little bit longer than 3.5 months) so I'll let you all know how all goes!

I'll be tuned in!

PS Did you get to talk with Dr. Sheinfeld?

It wasn't necessary. The pathologist actually called me at work to give me the rundown, answering every single question I posed very thoroughly. This is what led me to switch to surveillance. I haven't heard from my friend yet (I'm sure he's busy as hell), but I would assume that if there was something of concern, I would have heard something already.

Added 01/21: Heard from my buddy yesterday. He and Sheinfeld arrived at the same assessment as everyone else, so the surveillance decision stands.

[Already Bald]

This is great, Joe! See? You could totally pull it off. Congratulations on such a great accomplishment! Best of luck with the recovery,

Fed,
Thanks for your encouragement! The recovery is going slowly, but I'm getting there. For some reason yesterday was better than today. I go for my post chemo CT on Friday 1/26, then I see Dr. Vaughn at PENN on Monday.
I will post an update.

Congratulations to you Fed on choosing surveillance, I truly hope that you are already cured.
Kudos to you for having such an indepth conversation with the Pathologist- too many patients don't even get a copy of the report!
Keep writing.
Joe