A Second Opinion

Laura in the Meditation Room at UCSF

Got a call last night asking if I wanted an appointment with Dr. Rebecca Brooks at UCSF this morning at 8am (thanks Elvin!) My records have already been forwarded to her. We met with her this morning and, in short, she said she would treat me in exactly the way I am being treated. This is based on data from studies on cervical cancer, which acts similarly to what I have. (What I have is too rare to do a study on.)

There was a question about whether a second chemotherapy drug called 5FU should be used. Other than having a compelling name (actually fluorouracil), hasn't been shown in studies to help.
She did an exam and said it seemed that the radiation was working (as much as she could say, not having seen the tumor before.) She said the radiation keeps working after treatment stops. In other words, the tumor continues to die and the body absorbs the dead cells.

Laura asked about when the post-treatment assessment happens. She said they usually do a CT scan a month after treatment ends (for me, end of March.) But because of inflammatory changes as the tumor dies, it can mess up a PET scan, so 3 months is the amount of time for the PET scan (end of May). This brings up all kinds of issues about medical insurance for me and where I can live. But I will think about that later.

She also said my staging was 4B (the highest stage you can get.) The Kaiser doctors never specified. This was possibly more upsetting for Laura than for me. I've kind of heard it all (even if I haven't heard it!)

Anyway I'm glad we met her, though it will mean more pain after the exam (the normal thing would be not to do an exam during treatment partly because it's too painful.) I didn't really have any doubts about my doctors but lots of other people thought it was a good idea. It was nice to talk to women doctors.