radiation oncologist

A wee bit of news today. We met with the radiation oncologist this morning. He is an awesome doctor. Really quite thorough and explained very clearly why whole brain radiation is a good option. With the many things that have happened in the last month he didn't quite get all the info on why there was an urgent referral. He was quite a patient doctor and did an exam as well. I think this is the first exam Callum has had since we got to Saskatoon - with the exception of the neurological exam done by the neurosurgeon. He says the radiation treatment is 10 treatments over 2 weeks. Side effects are fatigue, nausea and vomiting - the nausea and vomiting can be treated with steroids. He says the research information shows a lot of success in increasing longevity with the use of whole brain radiation. It will take 4 - 5 years for any long term side effects or brain damage done by the radiation - they would be mostly cognitive - for example he might not be able to concentrate as well or multi task in meetings. Callum says he would be thrilled to be around in 4 or 5 years to have those problems! If Callum is eligible for gamma knife surgery, he would start the whole brain radiation 3 - 4 weeks after the surgery. If he doesn't have the gamma knife surgery, the whole brain radiation will start sooner.
This Dr. had a quick look at the CT scan from last week and says it looks like he has responded well to the chemo treatment. The radiologist report says they have no CT scan to compare it to - a bit confusing when one was done April 10. We will have a technician do a comparison report before we see Dr. Ahmad (the regular oncologist) next week. It might have to do with the fact that the scans were done at different hospitals. Oh well, at least this doctor had a computer and could look at the scans - he wouldn't say much since he is not a technician, but did mention that it looked like at least one of the spots had disappeared and there is now scar tissue in its place. He was sure to tell us there are still multiple nodules, but some spots were smaller or seemed to not be there anymore.
We should hear from Winnipeg by Wednesday this week and then have an idea of the process from here - at least for now.
We have a busy couple of weeks ahead - our nephew and family, Chris, Raegan, Karly, Danielle and Brandon are coming to visit this weekend, and then my friend from Ohio is up here from the 4 - 8th, and we will get some visiting with friends from Regina who are coming up that same week. We are so lucky to have so much support from everyone!
I will post again once we hear from Winnipeg.
TTFN (if you don't know what that means, check out a Winnie the Pooh story...:)