Post #13 - glad tidings

What a difference two weeks makes. On 31 January the consultant physician at Calvary hospital, after seeing the PET scan results with Philip's body lit up like a Christmas tree with all the metastases, was talking of a prognosis of 'maybe a few months.  He commented to me that it had been a roller coaster for us and I replied somewhat acerbically that 'roller coaster' was not the right metaphor because it had been all downhill since Philip was admitted on 15 January.

Well  happily it seems there is an up curve because of the favourable molecular study results. At today's appointment oncologist Dr Ali said Philip's prognosis was 'hopefully at least 2 years and maybe more', and that 60-70% of his patients show a good response to treatment. There is a targeted medication which works specifically on the 'non-small' lung cancer cells with the EGFR biomarker, preventing or slowing down their growth, and it works also to shrink all the metastases in spine, liver, bones and lymph nodes. They are to be treated by just one tablet of Tarceva a day and side effects are normally minimal. It is not even classified as chemotherapy.

Progress will be monitored by CT scans every 2-3 months. If the Tarceva stops working there is another medication which has already been approved in the US and should be approved in Australia before very long. Dr Ali expects that the heavy-duty pain reliever can be gradually reduced, eliminating the skin patch and just taking tablets if needed.

More radiotherapy should not be necessary unless there is an area which does not respond to Tarceva, as shown by the CT scans.

Philip's anaemia will be monitored initially by fortnightly blood tests and should improve with iron-rich foods - a good excuse for having oysters!   At present he is just skin and bone so he is to continue trying to regain the lost 13 kgs. (Lung cancer patients do better if they are carrying some weight). He might be persuaded to attend one of the exercise physiology classes at University of Canberra, although not necessarily the Lungs in Action group I go to.  They would devise an individual program which will not jar the spine but would strengthen surrounding muscles.

Other than that, the doctor's advice is to 'just be normal', get out of the wheelchair and live life!
With radiotherapy finished and a positive prognosis Philip's mental state should improve alongside his physical one.

I shall write the next post probably after the next blood test and oncologist consultation in a fortnight.