Oncologist vs Surgeons - Round One:

Last Wednesday when Dr. Fong, a surgeon, referred me to Dr. Isacoff, an oncologist (with whom I had already scheduled an appointment), I thought I’d secured the cancer dream-team to help me in this fight.  The decision seemed crystal clear; surgery on June 9^th at City of Hope followed up with chemotherapy thereafter. 

Then on Thursday and Friday, Sue and I spent for more than five hours with Dr. Isacoff and several of his PC patients who are receiving his unique chemotherapy treatment.  

The result:   a complete reversal of our thinking of only one day earlier.

If we can all agree that success in this fight is defined simply as “living longer” (or until such time as there is a cure) then “surgery first” is probably the wrong decision at this time.  If it is determined (by a blood test that I’m scheduled to have this Monday) that I am “metastatic”, meaning the cancer is in my blood, then all surgery first will do is prolong my initiation into Dr. Isacoff’s chemotherapy regimen.  By the time I’d recover my full strength from surgery to begin post-surgical chemotherapy, the rest of my body would most likely be affected by the cancer.  Furthermore, it’s important to understand that the original tumor in my pancreas is doing absolutely nothing to threaten my life at this time; and it will most likely never threaten my life if left alone.  It’s the cancer in my blood that will take root elsewhere that is truly life threatening.   So the logical decision is that it's critical to start Chemotherapy as soon as possible to stave off the spread through my blood to the other areas of my body. 

If, on the other hand, the blood test proves that I’m not metastatic and there is no evidence of cancer yet in my blood, there seems to be a consensus that surgery first would be the best course of action.  We’re still keeping our fingers crossed that this is the case, but it’s unlikely at this point.  Thus, I expect to be taking on the fight with the help of Dr. Isacoff and his unique chemotherapy approach as soon as June 1^st.

Here’s an article on Dr. Isacoff from last week’s Huffington Post:  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anne-f-glauber/finding-my-treatment-for-_b_7283022.html.

I’m not going to bore you with the details of his approach, but suffice to say his patients outlive national averages significantly.  Sue and I spoke with several of them Friday.  One woman of 52 has been under his care for more than 9 years and although she readily admits that it’s wearing on her, she has survived a terminal diagnosis long enough to watch her twins age from 4 to 13 while under his care.  Another two couples we visited with were more than two years into the therapy and were doing well and beating back the disease.  Their courage and optimism were encouraging.  Sue says “we have a new family and friends”.  Well, I didn't choose this path, but it’s the one I’m on.  It will be a honor to share it with these incredibly brave people.  They all share such determination, faith and trust in Dr. Isacoff.  That’s probably the hard part for me; trust.  I've lived my life believing that trust is earned and not given blindly.  Well as they say…live and learn.

Making decisions has always been one of my strengths in life and in business.  That said, a lifetime of decisions pale in comparison to the one I have to make at this point to trust this particular doctor. 

I need to find a way to trust Dr. Isacoff.
I will.

For a glimpse into the future, watch this video and read the article in the Duke University Link below.  This is the best chance for a cure out there today!

This is the story behind the 60 Minutes episode that everyone's talking about:

Note that Pancreatic Cancer is "on deck" for clinical trials with this ground-breaking approach.

http://www.cancer.duke.edu/btc/modules/Research3/index.php?id=41