Good News/Other News

Bobby's appointment with Dr. Sharfman at John's Hopkins was today. The trip down (like many have been) was snowy and messy. Bobby got us there safely so all went well. We got a call from Dan's school that said he wasn't feeling well shortly before we left. So, (like before) Dan came along as Dad's backup support.

OK, enough of that. Dr. Sharfman is a Melanoma specialist. http://www.hopkinskimmelcancercenter.org/experts/doctor.cfm?DoctorID=142 He spent a lot of time talking with us and gave Bobby a good exam. He gave Bobby a current clean bill of health and re-reviewed his PET scan and agreed that it looks fine. His lymph nodes feel fine and there is no evidence of any cancer.

We were a bit disappointed by the news that the melanoma was originally deeper than had been reported. He said the first biopsy was 3.5mm and the second was .85. He said you can't really add the two together BUT in the end, it is over 4.0mm deep. 4mm is the next jump up on the severity scale. This means that Bobby's melanoma was worse than we had thought. Although this is not what we wanted to hear, it does not change anything that we would do differently.

He gave us 3 options:

1. Do nothing, wait to see what happens
2. Proceed with Interferon for one year
3. Try to get into a Clinical Trial for Melanoma Vaccinations

We've eliminated #1 as we knew going down there today that we wanted to do SOMETHING. Bobby is a perfect candidate for the Clinical Trials with the one pending unknown. They require a certain blood type in order to be accepted into the trials. It is a special blood typing that they do and he had blood work drawn today. It will take about 10 days for that to come back. If he has the specific type of blood, he will be eligible for one of two trials. The first one is at NIH in Bethesda and the other is in Charlottesville, VA. So, we will wait for 10 days to see what the blood typing shows. I think they are looking for (HLA-A*0201+CEA+) which are antigens in the blood. (It doesn't have to do with ABO blood typing).

Bobby would really like to be eligible for a clinical trial but, the Interferon is the next option. Interferon gives one-year relapse-free survival (after one year of treatment with the Interferon). The side-effects can be significant and make you feel pretty crappy.

We'll to whatever it takes, say lots of prayers, and give thanks for each and every disease-free day.

I'm going to catch a catnap before I go to work...check the blog tomorrow for some cool pictures. I'll try to post them before I go to bed in the morning.

We would love to hear from you. Please drop us an email: harsh.bobbydonna@gmail.com .