It has been a long week of visits to the two hospitals and
meeting with many doctors. At some point, you put together the best information
you can, make a decision on how to move forward, and leave the rest in God’s
hands.
We have decided to pursue treatment for the bladder cancer
at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. The primary treatment will be
radiation therapy, with a small amount of chemotherapy to enhance the effects
of the radiation.
As many of you know, Barry is a radiation biologist who has
been a Professor of Radiation Oncology at Mount Sinai for the past 26 years.
The MSKCC radiation oncologist who specializes in the treatment of bladder
cancer is Dr. Marisa Kollmeier. Marisa was one of Barry’s students when she trained
in radiation oncology at Mount Sinai about fifteen years ago. In those days,
Barry taught only the Mount Sinai residents (his weekly course is now attended by residents from
eight programs in the New York City area), and every year we would host a
dinner for the group of six or so in our home. So I have known Marisa for a
long time, and it is our great fortune that she has become a leading radiation
oncologist in the treatment of bladder cancer. The other two members of the
team are Drs. Gopa Iyer (medical oncologist) and Bernard Bochner (surgical
oncologist.) Dr. Bochner actually trained the surgical oncologist with whom we
met at Mount Sinai: it is a small world of folks who treat bladder cancer.
On Tuesday I will be going to MSKCC to have markers, little
gold seeds the size of grains of rice, implanted in my bladder to help guide
the radiation. The next step will then be what is called a simulation that is
required to develop the plan for the radiation treatment. The actual treatment
will then begin several days later.
Although we had hoped to travel to Sharon this weekend, the
appointments made that impossible. We are hopeful I will be up to going next
weekend before the radiation treatments begin. Once those start, it will be
daily (five days a week) for about seven weeks, and I probably will not be up
to travel during that period.
Now I just need to muster the strength to get through all of
this. I know I have a small army of people rooting for me and praying for me,
and will be forever grateful for your support over these coming months.
Love,
Rebecca
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