My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

This is a highly malignant cancer. I discovered it in May,2010. I had surgery and radiation. I also developed posterior mediastinal and small bowel metastases. I had chemotherapy. After a good response, I had chemoradiation of the mediastinum. I am now battling with post irradiation esophageal recurrance. Dave Shuster passed away on April 18, 2012 from complications of Merkel Cell Carcinoma. A copy of this blog in PDF format is available at http://dave.shuster.com/

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Update Two weeks after Radiation

Very little is new. My skin is healing well. My taste buds show very early signs of improvement. I had a follow-up appointment with Dr Flam who recommended Zinc, 50 mg twice daily and brushing my tongue which is coated.
Dr Nghiem has suggested a follow-up imaging study which I will have at the end of November, and I am in the process of setting up a follow-up visit around December 1.
In the meantime, I will go to Montreal from about October 6-11, and then to Philadelphia Oct 11-17. Judy will go straight to Philadelphia October 6. At the end of October, we will meet friends from Montreal in Las Vegas.
We also have a Hawaii cruise from December 8-22. I hope the imaging results do not put a damper on that.
My weight has fallen to 166 lbs from about 176 when I first found my tumor mass. This weight loss is not unwelcome.
Here are the most recent photos. I did get a haircut.

Below is a photo of our dog, Rocky and our granddaughters Eva and Sara

1 comment:

ShuandAugust 31, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Uncle Dave,
I see a noticeable improvement in this week's photos. Your face has more life to it, both in colour and in expression. I wrote to my friend, Matt, in Florida who is a radiologist oncologist to find out about taste bud recovery. No response just yet.

In the meantime, Ben and I continue to pray for your health every Shabbes we're in shul. We look forward to seeing you in October.

Love,

Andee
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