Infection is starting to clear up - didn't have to spend the weekend in the hospital - Hallelujah
Jim
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
April 28
I'm feeling pretty good - BUT -
My infection spread slightly so my surgeon put me on a stronger antibiotic. If it doesn't get better by tomorrow, I get to spend the weekend in the hospital hooked up to an IV - Oh goody - hospital food ! ! !
My ultra-sound just showed a buildup of fluid. My surgeon drained some of that this morning.
That's it for now
Jim
My infection spread slightly so my surgeon put me on a stronger antibiotic. If it doesn't get better by tomorrow, I get to spend the weekend in the hospital hooked up to an IV - Oh goody - hospital food ! ! !
My ultra-sound just showed a buildup of fluid. My surgeon drained some of that this morning.
That's it for now
Jim
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
April 27
Oh Great ! ! !
The area where they removed the tumor is now infected. I discovered that yesterday at shower time. My doctor put me on an antibiotic for ten days.
I had an ultra sound this morning make sure the puffiness around my incision is fluid. I find the results of that tomorrow.
I met with my radiologist this morning also. We have to delay the radiation now until the infection clears up. I have a CT scan scheduled for next Tuesday.
The infection has caused me to feel like I have the flu. I felt terrible last evening, pretty good this morning, and now am not feeling very good again.
Signing off
Jim
The area where they removed the tumor is now infected. I discovered that yesterday at shower time. My doctor put me on an antibiotic for ten days.
I had an ultra sound this morning make sure the puffiness around my incision is fluid. I find the results of that tomorrow.
I met with my radiologist this morning also. We have to delay the radiation now until the infection clears up. I have a CT scan scheduled for next Tuesday.
The infection has caused me to feel like I have the flu. I felt terrible last evening, pretty good this morning, and now am not feeling very good again.
Signing off
Jim
Thursday, April 21, 2011
4/21/11
I spent the last three days in Seattle - mainly for a visit with Dr Paul Nghiem at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. This was for a second opinion and was approved by Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser will not pay for further meetings with Dr Nghiem, but I was put into his research group and they will continue to work with me.
Dr Nghiem seems to be the authority on Merkel Cell Cancer on the west coast. He has 700 patients. I would assume mostly on an advisory capacity.
Our main question was "Chemo and Radiation or just Radiation alone". He felt that at this point chemo could possibly do more harm than good. I haven't discussed this at Kaiser yet, but it made sense to me.
We asked him about a mushroom study done at Bastyr University in Kenmore WA, and he said he's heard some positive things about that and it certainly wouldn't hurt to take mushroom capsules. He gave me a starter supply.
They took about about a pint of blood samples and with that will develop an antibody base line for me. They can tell then from blood samples in the future if my cancer has reappeared elsewhere long before a pet or cat scan would do so. Hope I understood all that correctly.
The bottom line is I have about a 50/50 chance of getting this stopped with my current surgery and radiation treatments. If it appears again, then we go after it again. The hope is it appears in an operable place. It could appear anywhere on the body (including my brain - and that would not be good).
I see my radiologist at Kaiser next Tuesday, and I would assume we'd get the radiaton started immediately.
Signing off - Jim
Dr Nghiem seems to be the authority on Merkel Cell Cancer on the west coast. He has 700 patients. I would assume mostly on an advisory capacity.
Our main question was "Chemo and Radiation or just Radiation alone". He felt that at this point chemo could possibly do more harm than good. I haven't discussed this at Kaiser yet, but it made sense to me.
We asked him about a mushroom study done at Bastyr University in Kenmore WA, and he said he's heard some positive things about that and it certainly wouldn't hurt to take mushroom capsules. He gave me a starter supply.
They took about about a pint of blood samples and with that will develop an antibody base line for me. They can tell then from blood samples in the future if my cancer has reappeared elsewhere long before a pet or cat scan would do so. Hope I understood all that correctly.
The bottom line is I have about a 50/50 chance of getting this stopped with my current surgery and radiation treatments. If it appears again, then we go after it again. The hope is it appears in an operable place. It could appear anywhere on the body (including my brain - and that would not be good).
I see my radiologist at Kaiser next Tuesday, and I would assume we'd get the radiaton started immediately.
Signing off - Jim
Sunday, April 17, 2011
April 17, 2011
In a nutshell, I'll bring you up to date on my Merkel Cell Carcinoma. Merkel Cell is a very rare cancer (1500 new cases a year in the entire U.S.) and very aggressive (described to me as melanoma on steroids)
My first encounter was last May when I noticed a spot on my arm that was growing. I had a large chunk of skin (down to the muscle) removed, a skin graft put in place and 30 trips to Interstate clinic for radiation.
All seemed well until after Christmas this year when a bump started appearing under my arm. At first my doctors thought it was simply something that resulted from the lymph nodes that were biopsied with my initial surgery. It grew fast and large in a small amount of time, and obviously was a return of the Merkel Cell Cancer. The mass was removed at Southwest by a Kaiser surgeon on March 30th ( a four hour surgery- great nap ! ! !). Since then, I've had a build-up of fluid which has been drained twice and a really funny feeling in my arm because of nerve damage. If you've had shingles, you know what my upper arm feels like.
On the good side, I've been saving money on under-arm deoderant since my surgery (you probably didn't need to know that)
Thanks initially to my daughter-in-law, and then also to my Kaiser people, we found an expert on Merkel Cell at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance - Fred Hutchinson Center - University of Washington. Had a little trouble with Kaiser approving that, but again with the help of some great people, we pulled it off and will head up to Seattle tomorrow.
For those that are interested, I'll keep this updated as I find out new things. I do believe strongly that there's a Higher Being involved in this adventure I'm about to undertake, and your prayers are so welcome.
Jim Detchman
My first encounter was last May when I noticed a spot on my arm that was growing. I had a large chunk of skin (down to the muscle) removed, a skin graft put in place and 30 trips to Interstate clinic for radiation.
All seemed well until after Christmas this year when a bump started appearing under my arm. At first my doctors thought it was simply something that resulted from the lymph nodes that were biopsied with my initial surgery. It grew fast and large in a small amount of time, and obviously was a return of the Merkel Cell Cancer. The mass was removed at Southwest by a Kaiser surgeon on March 30th ( a four hour surgery- great nap ! ! !). Since then, I've had a build-up of fluid which has been drained twice and a really funny feeling in my arm because of nerve damage. If you've had shingles, you know what my upper arm feels like.
On the good side, I've been saving money on under-arm deoderant since my surgery (you probably didn't need to know that)
Thanks initially to my daughter-in-law, and then also to my Kaiser people, we found an expert on Merkel Cell at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance - Fred Hutchinson Center - University of Washington. Had a little trouble with Kaiser approving that, but again with the help of some great people, we pulled it off and will head up to Seattle tomorrow.
For those that are interested, I'll keep this updated as I find out new things. I do believe strongly that there's a Higher Being involved in this adventure I'm about to undertake, and your prayers are so welcome.
Jim Detchman
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