[SIERA] Bad news from Bob

[Wplewis2 at cs.com]

This email just came through.  Bob needs all the support we can give.    
Will, KD7NIR




Dear friends,

Well, trip to see the oncologist was not a happy one. Dr. Srinivas said that
the latest MRI study of my liver confirmed that the cancer has spread. In
earlier studies there was one lesion that "might" be a tumor. Now there are
four, and the earlier one has grown. She doesn't think there is any doubt
that the lesions are kidney cancer metastases. 

Unfortunately, she also doesn't think that surgery is an option, nor is
Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA). She thinks that the surgery would be at
least as bad as my December operation, and may not get all the cancer. In
the last operation at least they could be sure that they got the whole tumor
out. RFA may get these four tumors but she believes that the cancer has
already seeded more tumors in the liver.

Next, she thinks that I may have lung metastases as well. I've been having
pain in my chest that isn't consistent with heart problems, so she is
concerned about additional tumors. They did a chest x-ray today to establish
a baseline for comparison later.

Dr. Srinivas thinks that my best bet at this point is immunotherapy,
probably low dosage IL-2 (Interleukin-2). She isn't sure that I'm strong
enough for high dose IL-2 - the treatment can be pretty rough. The bad news
is that from my reading about kidney cancer high dose IL-2 has at best a 5%
chance of a cure; low dose has maybe 1-2% chance, or less.

I have an appointment with the cardiologist next week to make sure I don't
have a heart problem. They need to make sure my cardio system can stand up
to the stress of the immunotherapy. On top of everything else my
nephrologist found out that I'm now anemic. Sigh. He has given me one more
prescription to take.

In two weeks I go back to see Dr. Srinivas. This will give me time to do a
little more research and thinking about the best course of action. In the
meantime, I'll get more exercise and continue to build my strength - for
whatever treatment we decide on.

Cheers,
Bob

------------------------------------------------------- 
Bob Evans Bob at BobAndMerrilyEvans.Org
2158 Harrison Street Home: 408-423-8704
Santa Clara, CA 95050 Cell: 775-450-4543