My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

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survives. Posted by docshu at 08:49PM (-07:00) One Week After the End of Radiation Treatment Tuesday, August 24, 2010 August 24, 2010 I had a brief appointment with Dr John this morning to check out my skin. As you can see from the photo, there is an area of depigmentation on my neck but my cheek looks fine. Not visible in tne photo is some skin breakdown behind my ear which I continue to treat 3 times daily with dilute hydrogen peroxide followed with Silvadine cream. Dr John says it is improving. I am feeling good. My throat is still sore but improved. No change in my taste buds. I asked if there are any studies on neck radiation patients giving statistics about the time: dose: location: relationship to taste recovery. I could not find anything but anecdotal information on the internet. You would think some grad student would follow a large group of patients through the recovery period with either tests of taste or subjective quizzes to be able to construct graphs of the timeline to taste recovery. As it is, Dr John suggests that with my dose and using Intensity Modulated Radiation, I should expect substantial recovery in the next two months. He also says I should have no problems traveling in October so I will begin to make plans to go to Philadelphia and Montreal in mid October. Our house is on the market. We have had two open houses and three visits by realtors with prospective buyers. We are asking $200,000 less than when we put it on the market 3 years ago, but no hint of an offer yet. I will continue working 3 half days in August and then go to about 2 1/2 days per week in September. Bert and I scored 212 on a 156 average to win Monday’s bridge game. However our winning streak did end on Sunday, finally not finishing in the overalls. I know that at one time Judy asked people not to call, as I was having a hard time reviewing all my history with friends and family, but I have adjusted well to my condition and my prognosis and am happy to speak to anyone who wishes to call. I have found a back-up Doctor in case the kissing doctor is unavailable. Here is Dr Sammie, my granddaughter in Philadelphia. My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer 31
32 Posted by docshu at 06:53PM (-07:00) Taste Recovery Friday, August 27, 2010 Here are some references to studies on the subject. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16798859 http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3600133 http://www.thegreenjournal.com/article/S0167-8140(02)00025-7/abstract http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16887272 These articles suggest that much of the sense of taste is recovered in six months after the end of treatment. One article showed recovery in all subjects in six months. The consensus is that the loss of taste is not due to salivary gland dysfunction but due to damage to the taste buds. Some patients never recover their sense of taste completely Posted by docshu at 11:09PM (-07:00) Update Two weeks after Radiation Tuesday, August 31, 2010 Very little is new. My skin is healing well. My taste buds show very early signs of improvement. I had a follow-up appointment with Dr Flam who recommended Zinc, 50 mg twice daily and brushing my tongue which is coated. Dr Nghiem has suggested a follow-up imaging study which I will have at the end of November, and I am in the process of setting up a follow-up visit around December 1. In the meantime, I will go to Montreal from about October 6-11, and then to Philadelphia Oct 11-17. Judy will go straight to Philadelphia October 6. At the end of October, we will meet friends from Montreal in Las Vegas. We also have a Hawaii cruise from December 8-22. I hope the imaging results do not put a damper on that. My weight has fallen to 166 lbs from about 176 when I first found my tumor mass. This weight loss is not unwelcome. Here are the most recent photos. I did get a haircut. My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer
Page 1 and 2: My Battle with MCC My Battle with M
Page 4 and 5: Contents I Discover a Mass in my Fa
Page 6 and 7: A Brief break, Then 3-5 Months of C
Page 8 and 9: Esophageal Dilatation: My Experienc
Page 10 and 11: I Discover a Mass in my Face Friday
Page 12 and 13: I Have Surgery Saturday, July 24, 2
Page 14 and 15: Posted by docshu at 10:54AM (-07:00
Page 16 and 17: In the absence of a tumor mass to i
Page 18 and 19: Friday, July 2: I plan to work in t
Page 20 and 21: I plan to add photographs to this b
Page 22 and 23: deformity and a facial droop on his
Page 24 and 25: of taste. I have now completed 11 o
Page 26 and 27: there. They visited from Valencia,
Page 28 and 29: SARA, age 3, The Kissing Doctor Wha
Page 30 and 31: Hooray. I passed!!! Friday, August
Page 34 and 35: Below is a photo of our dog, Rocky
Page 36 and 37: Not Much New Thursday, September 16
Page 38 and 39: Posted by docshu at 05:09PM (-07:00
Page 40 and 41: That's Jon on my right and Robert o
Page 42 and 43: Nghiem in Seattle on November 30. U
Page 44 and 45: Posted by docshu at 07:20PM (-08:00
Page 46 and 47: ook last-minute, as I have canceled
Page 48 and 49: Sandy, and from my sister Ellie, wi
Page 50 and 51: out. I do not have a definite date
Page 52 and 53: old. We had a very nice visit with
Page 54 and 55: I continue to work, although my sch
Page 56 and 57: Surgery Wednesday 10:00 AM Monday,
Page 58 and 59: do very much. On the other hand, I
Page 60 and 61: circumference. What that all means
Page 62 and 63: Montreal and on my return, have a p
Page 64 and 65: Here is a photo of Alex and yours t
Page 66 and 67: The bad news is that the experiment
Page 68 and 69: This is the best photo I could find
Page 70 and 71: the symptom gets worse. The generic
Page 72 and 73: DNA present in ~80% MCC tumors MCPy
Page 74 and 75: Rocky woke us up this morning with
Page 76 and 77: =Bingo!=we were the next ones seate
Page 78 and 79: My colon feels like It wants to blo
Page 80 and 81: In any event, Dr Flam says I should
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No More Chemo (for now) Tuesday, Ju
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The Plan is Finalized Tuesday, July
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Not a Good Day Today, + Real Estate
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was down. I had no appetite. No foo
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my lower esophagus. An experimental
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Here is the rant. My appointment wa
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peripheral neuropathy is unchanged.
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have stopped the zinc. I am also ha
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Axial CT Image Here, we see a large
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I'm Back! Tuesday, October 18, 2011
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My brother Jon Shuster arrived Thur
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sessions, and for the first time si
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the skull. When the catheter was in
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to a pediatrician, who said that th
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PM. I will post again when I get ho
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Posted by David Shuster at 09:56AM
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obesity and emaciation." One of the
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Last night, I had the most sleep I'
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done frequently since having the pr
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they did help, they didn't help eno
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I hope that my dad is well enough t
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WBC count 4.5-11.0 K/mcL Platelet 1
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It is such great news. There are do
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so he can sleep. 2:00 Dana takes Be
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Cicero says of the Sword of Damocle
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evealed Staph Aureus, but not the a
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Fresno Imaging Center Medical Group
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Obituary Saturday, April 21, 2012 T
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manner of other names, as my dad di
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Eva had asked that I tell him she l
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document the final part of that tra
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Subject: docdave back at hospital T
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We got word that the ER doctor want
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used it), some stuff for my mom, an
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your brain and body work. As the ox
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who seemed competent and caring. Th
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in a voice I'd never heard her use
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In facing death, dad decided to tru
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My Battle with Merkel Cell Cancer

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