I am presented at Tumor board while in Philadelphia

We are back from Philadelphia. I finally met my grandson Eli. There is a slight culture clash here. It seems Eli is a Phillies fan and I root for the Giants.

Below is a photo of Eli, Sammie Mike and Leanna.

Here is a link to photos from Philadelphia.
http://picasaweb.google.com/radocshu/PhiladelphiaOct2010#


I was presented at Tumor board at St Agnes Medical Center in Fresno. I learned of this when my oncologist, Marshall Flam called me and asked if I wanted to attend. Of course, being out of town, I could not.
Dan Stobbe also called and offered to take notes. Here are extracts from those notes.

Not much new info from tumor board.  Main point I learned was from pathologist, that these tumors are C-KIT positive on staining; that raised question of whether any possible relapse might be treated effectively with Gleevec.  Nobody seemed to know of any literature re: that, might be good question to ask your doc at U. Wash. (I will ask. I see Dr Nghiem on Nov 30)

Concensus was that local treatment with RT (radiation) was the way to go.  Surgical resection alone higher relapse rate.

Unknown if spontaneous regression of primary (suggested by multiple negative skin biopsies) is a positive prognostic factor or neutral.  Another good question for U. Wash MD. (I asked Dr Nghiem this question and he had no useful information on this subject.)

All agreed that follow up/surveillance with phys exam and PET would be wise. (My follow-up PET/CT is to be done just before Thanksgiving)

All wondered/were curious if U. Wash will be drawing repeat circulating Merkel cell studies as surveillance. (I hope so)

Back home, Gary met us at the airport with Sara. She gave me such a loving greeting. She is a real sweetheart.

Go Giants! (posted while they are losing game 2)