Daniel Gallagher

June 20, 2008 - Dr. Algazy & Dr. Gralla

I met with Dr. Algazy (Penn) who knows who Dr. Gralla is (who I met with on Monday) and liked his ideas (may be small-cell and non-small cell combined or even Non-Small Cell lung cancer) either way opening up a multitude of additional treatment options and is usually much less agressive. And that we could treat with Tarceva. He also suggested that there are possibly other chemo regimens we could look at including Carboplatin.

While I was there for my appointment he emailed a colleage of his at Penn who is a surgeon to get me scheduled for a biopsy from the lymph gland under my chin which is "involved".  They plan to get a larger tissue sample and run some additional tests which Dr. Gralla recommended: EGFR, K-RAS mutation and mutated EGFR.

He suggested we hold off on the next CT scan for now.

He also concurred with Dr. Gralla that I begin using Emend (NKI antagonist) for nausea which seems to be getting worse with each treatment.

He is also going to follow up with Dr. Gralla via fax so that they can confer on my treatment options/plan.

On the train to now NYC to see Dr. Chang and get his input. I'll keep you posted.

We're back on track with posting updates on my blog and we'll have lots of the bacground information (previous email updates too) very soon.  You can subscribe to these updates if your interested as there are MANY concerned individuals who I may miss when I send out these emails. All updates will be via my blog very soon.  Sorry for not keeping everyone (who is interesed) in the loop better.

Thanks for your continued support and prayers, especially Wes Foster; my friend, Jane Pierce; and my wife, Kristi Kotz. I love you, all three of you, VERY much and wouldn't have been able to weather this storm as well as I have without each of you standing beside me.

Dan

June 16, 2008 - Appointment with Dr. Gralla

Got home around 7:15PM from Lake Success (Queens), NY, after going to the Monter Cancer Center to see Dr. Gralla.

I will provide more details tomorrow however I'm not planning on coming in. Very low energy level tonight.

Basically Dr. Gralla doesn't think it's small-cell lung cancer for a couple of reasons including that we should have seen a better response to the chemo I have been getting. He thinks we should start Tarceva fairly soon and will coordinate with Dr. Algazy at Penn to see what he thinks. He also thinks we "may" want to get an additional (larger) biopsy of one of the tumors (probably from under the chin).

Dr. Gralla said I would be his third case of small-cell in a non-smoker in 30 years of being an oncologist. VERY rare and he doesn't think that's what it is (at least exclusively). He and his partner "specialize" in non-smokers with lung cancer!!!

Lots more treatment options for non-small cell lung cancer. Overall a really positive day!!!

I'm WAY behind on email and voice mail but will catch up tomorrow.

A very special thanks to my sister-in-law, Pat Shand, for "connecting" me with Dr. Gralla. I am truly blessed!

If you have children call them, hug them, etc. today and tell them that you love them. You never know. 

Dan

June 11, 2008

I got to the infusion center at Penn today and they didn't have any orders for me to receive treatment (chemo) today. I emailed Dr. Algazy and Cecille Miller, his nurse, and Dr. Algazy did respond within 5 minutes (pretty amazing and a testament to the power of carrying a BlackBerry) and he told me that he should have seen me last week if I was going to have chemo today. Only thing is... my appointment with him (which was scheduled 3 weeks ago AND there was a discussion that this was going to be in the middle of my 3 day cycle) is for tomorrow at 9:00AM.

Dr. Algazy got Cecille to come up to the infusion center on the 15th floor of the Penn Tower almost instantly and things did get straightened out so that I can get my treatment today (connected now to the infusion pump). Cecille did acknowledge that my appointment was scheduled for tomorrow but that Thursdays are the day when Dr. Algazy sees head and neck patients and that on my way out "I" should see if "I" can get an appointment for Friday instead.

I'm very grateful for Dr. Algazy taking over my care but today I feel like a number, a very small number, not a human being.

Later today I get to deal with insurance companies to try and get confirmation of my previous coverage (AmeriHealth) to my new company (CIGNA) so that they begin to pay the bills. Let's see how small I feel after dealing with this.

On a positive note the metastasis (lump) on the left side of my skull has noticeably decreased in size which should indicate that the chemo is working.

Thanks for your support!  Keep the prayers coming.  And the funny cards. 

Dan