Goswami Rocks

Our visit with Dr.Goswami at the UW went better that we could have possibly hoped or imagined!

When I send Jons scans and records to the cancer centers around the country I always include the picture of him at his one year diagnosis mark where he just finished working out and is flexing his biceps...its been on the blog so I will spare you all from seeing it again but, needless to say, it is impressive for any pancreatic cancer patient post-one-year-diagnosis. Naturally, I included in the records to the UW Cancer Center and the first thing Dr. Goswami did was shake Jon's hand and tell him it was a pleasure to meet the man in the picture. Jon replied, "That guys still in here."

Dr. Goswami asked Jon to tell the story of his cancer journey which Jon did quite colorfully. Afterward, Dr. Goswami explained all the details of the procedure and told us that Jon was an excellent candidate. UW has only been doing this procedure for 9 months and have done 12 patients (with metastatic colon cancer and primary liver cancer) with excellent results. They all currently have clear scans, the only caveat is that the procedure is so new they don't know how long it lasts. Jon will be their first pancreatic cancer patient. He further went on to tell us that the small spot in Jon's lung could also be readily ablated with a separate procedure should this round of chemo not stabilize or eradicate it. Next Dr. Goswami will call Dr. Chue and they will formulate a schedule of treatment for the next few months. Hopefully, Jon will have had his last chemo this past Tuesday and we will schedule a PET scan next week.

In addition to being remarkably skilled and intelligent, Dr. Goswami has an excellent bedside manner. He is warm, caring and kind of reminds me of Deepak Chopra. At the end of our visit Jon asked if he could kiss him now or wait until after the procedure :)

Next there are scans, blood tests, arterialgrams before we can have the actual procedure. It will also be done in 2 parts, 30 days apart to treat each lobe of the liver separately. Jon won't know if he is an official candidate until all the tests are complete, but there is a 95% chance that he is.

Interestingly enough the Ytrium Isotopes are manufactured in Australia, home of our friends Ray and Leonie. They have such a short half-life that they are shipped the day of the procedure to the UW for each individual patients. The Ytrium alone is $16,000and thankfully the procedure is covered by my health insurance.

I have been ecstatic all day. I asked Jon if he wanted to dance the jig. He replied that he was doing one in his head :)