“Fabulous”

Chemo round #9 is now completed. As usual, the infusion began in LA on a Thursday and concluded on a Friday. But my cell phone rang on Thursday evening – it was the chemo factory. It seems the medical director was displeased that I hadn’t been examined by him or one of his staff doctors for a few rounds. As if the visits to the SB oncologist, urologist, cardiologist, and hospitalization weren’t enough to keep me busy. He stated that his nurses should NOT have begun round 9 without an examination by him or one of his staff, and that that would not happen again. Seems more like an internal problem at the chemo factory – why was he wasting my time about their sloppy protocol? It’s really not my fault that the hours he keeps make a banker look like a sweat laborer by comparison.

Anyway, he was uncharacteristically in the office the next morning. I was summoned to an examining room. First on the agenda was a brief discussion relating to my futile efforts to make the drug available to me in Santa Barbara. He relayed that he had heard that I wanted to change venues because he was pressuring me to switch medications. (While this was true at one time, he has backed away from that position recently.) I told him my primary motivation was to avoid the trip to LA every three weeks. I think we came to an uneasy understanding to just move along.

A brief exam ensued that involved examination of the most palpable of the tumors. He looked first to the left spinae muscle location. But nothing is detectable there anymore. He then examined the left hip – almost nothing there. He then reviewed the CT scan history. We discussed the reduction in lineal dimensions and how that translates to an approximate 50% reduction in average tumor size.

“Not bad, huh?” I asked.

He peered back at me over his glasses: “Fabulous. I only wish all my patients had such positive results.”

Cecily and I went back out to the common area to wait for the infusion to conclude. A short time later he brought another patient over to meet me. This woman has had four rounds of Trabectedin but has apparently not experienced the response that I have. I did my best to encourage her, offering up that it took several rounds before I began to see measurable progress. But she doesn’t even have the same type of sarcoma that I do, so who knows.

But the point is that I went from goat to headliner in less than 24 hours. But best not to get too caught up in the opinions of the medical professionals because they change with the winds. It is enough for me to see the tumors shrinking and my overall health improving. And that's something I can hang my hat on.