Dave had his most recent Rituxan infusion yesterday. It was the first time we had a chance to meet with his new Hematology Oncologist, Dr. L. (Dave's previous doctor moved to Seattle in July.) We were pretty impressed with him - the new guy is very young, very personable, but best of all he communicates easily and openly, with specific facts.
I had given up hope of ever learning Dave's FISH results (a test of the genetic changes in the cancer cell.) Dr. L told us, before I even had a chance to ask, that Dave has the 13q deletion, which is very good news (it's a less aggressive form of CLL.)
Dr. L plans to continue Dave's Rituxan treatments through the end of this year. He's attending a Hematology/Oncology conference in December and he will meet with us after that to decide on Dave's treatment for the coming year.
4 comments:
Sometimes its a good thing to get a new doc - fresh eyes, brain, perspective - and it sounds like Dave got lucky with this one. And with the genetic variant, whew.
Sounds like this is a good thing all around. Glad to hear it! Sending hugs from down under.
I'm always glad to hear good news on the medical front and I'm even gladder that you like and respect your new doctor. Having the right MD means so much.
13q del makes him a very lucky man. He should live with his CLL for a very long time, probably at least until they find excellent treatments (and they are on their way).
In light of this great news, please spare a thought for those of us with much worse CLL prognoses, for we are definitely headed into that dark night, sooner or later.
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