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Hi Linda, Bruce, Chris, Lynda and others
Mark had his appt yesterday with the oncologists that visit from Palm Nth. They wanted to start chemo straight away - esp as they could see Mark was not able to speak so fluently about how he is at present, and in light of the changes in the MRI.
Having had helpful suggestions from friends such as you Chris, we said we would first want an opinion from a neurosurgeon about whether debulking is an option. So that threw them a little as now they have to get in touch with the neurosurgeon in Hamilton (Mr Muthu)- who should have recived the MRI report. We might need to go over to Hamilton for a pre-op clinic, but I said we first and foremost want a straight opinion from Mr Muthu esp with regard to the difficulties Mark had last time, and the size of the tumour this time - apparently its only 11mm x 12mm x 13mm - but with 6 or 7 cm of swelling - so quite a active tumour now. They should be able to get a decent opinion from him by talking to him themselves, without the need for us to make a long trip. If he thinks debulking is a good option, we will still probably need to make two trips over there anyway.
Meantime they have given Mark some Dexmethasone - he's to take 8mg per day - so he started this morning. And if he starts feeling better on 8, he can drop it down to 4mg/day.
The chemo they want to try is BCNU - like he had last time - since he had a good response to it. Thats fine, but I pointed out his Neutrophils count is lowish and he may not be able to take much chemo. They are hopeful that the neurologist Mark sees next Thursday will come up with some other option as an anti-epileptic that will not cause bone marrow suppression...hmmmm....not sure if there is such a drug!!! However I am also hoping that with the dexmethasone on board, Mark may not need such a large dose of Epilim - and reducing that as the steroids and, later on, the chemo take effect, may be enough to push his neutrophil up a bit!!!
The oncologist promised to get in touch tomorrow, as he thinks he will have spoken to Muthu by then. We really need to get things rolling quite quickly...so I hope he does in fact phone us tomorrow!!!
Lots of love to all
Mark and Liz
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