We saw 3 doctors on Monday - the radiation oncologist, the neurologist, and the regular oncologist.
The radiation oncologist said that he thought Paul might still qualify for radiosurgery (a one-shot high dose of radiation). I was afraid the tumor might be too big now, but he said it's borderline. He has talked to the regular oncologist about it, and they will talk to Paul's primary care physician, who would have to do the referral for HMO.
We have an appointment with Paul's primary care physician next Monday. Hopefully we'll find out then whether this is a possibility. I guess it's very expensive and is only done at major medical centers, so we would probably go to the U of I at Chicago.
We went to see the neurologist because Paul had more welts on Monday morning, after he had quit taking the dilantin. The neurologist said the dilantin stays in the system for a few days. He said Paul could take Benedryl, and also could take some of the decadron (steroid) that he has left over if the itching is bad.
Paul's taking tegretol now instead of dilantin. One of the people I correspond with said her husband had a reaction to dilantin so they switched him to tegretol and then he had a reaction to tegretol, so they switched him to something else. Guess we'll just have to keep our eyes on it.
The regular oncologist agreed to try new chemotherapy. He talked to the doctor at U of C and they worked out a protocol. We're going back to see the regular oncologist on Friday to discuss details.
Continue to: Oct. 29, 1997
Return to: Diary of a Brain Tumor Patient's Wife
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Created: May 8, 1999
Latest revision: July 18, 2010