Dana Farber

Went up to Dana-Farber this morning for a second opinion on the radiation treatment and it was a quick and simple trip.  Initially I met with a resident and an intern and went over the entirety of my identification of the disease, diagnosis, treatment, etc.  It’s a little bazaar to sit in a room with people while one is actually learning about medicine, treatment, etc.  We actually witnessed this interaction, which was a little embarrassing;

Resident; “Did you have any numbness in your hands during chemo?”

Me; “No.”

Resident; “It’s a strange phenomenon, we see particularly in younger men, some hand neuropathy from the chemo,” (to intern) “what drug would cause that?”

Intern; …..silence….”The….” 

I don’t remember what she answered, but she did answer and she was wrong, but he was good about it and used it as a productive teaching moment.  I understand it is a necessary and important part of modern medicine to work in this fashion; it’s just a little weird when you’re the patient and they’re sort of quizzing each other over you.

Dr. Ng finally came in and after reviewing everything from Canaday and the PET reports basically said everything he suggested is how they would handle it there and she was very comfortable with the recommended course of treatment.  She was very pleasant and from what we understand she has been instrumental in reviewing several clinical trials currently being conducted in Germany on the treatment of Hodgkins, more specifically the elimination of some treatments, or the shortening of the treatment times.  It was comforting to get their sign-off and we were happy to know they had such universal agreement with the treatment plan prescribed here on the Cape.

At this point I have an appointment on Wednesday of next week to further plan out the treatment and make some surgical markings that will be used during the delivery of radiation, and I believe September 17^th will be the eventual start date, though that is not official.  Side effects from radiation remain minimal but could include problems swallowing, some loss of taste, thickening of saliva, fatigue, and some other surface skin issues in the treatment area.  I’m anxious to get started and work through it.

Labor Day weekend is looking good, BC football tomorrow afternoon at 3:30 (ABC) and a lot of relaxing.  Enjoy your weekends and thanks for the visit - Gary