Second Opinon

At 5:40 a.m. on Monday, December 19, 2011, my brother & I took Jayson to UCLA’s Sarcoma Center to get a second opinion on Jayson’s diagnosis and treatment plan. It took us over 1.5 hours to get there due to normal Los Angeles morning traffic, but we made it in time for our 8:00 a.m. appointment.  We brought with us all the biopsy samples slides, scans (MRI, PET scan, Ultra-sound), X-rays, test results and reports for Jayson’s case and provided it to Dr. Noah Federman, an oncologist at the Sarcoma Center.

After giving Dr. Federman Jayson’s health history for the last few months, he was given a physical exam.  Dr. Federman also reviewed the results from a chromosome test done. After reviewing all of this, along with the reports from a Naval Medical Center San Diego’s (NMCSD) pathologist and radiologists,  Dr. Federman has preliminary confirmed the diagnosis of Jayson’s NMCSD’s oncologist, Dr. McManaman.  He also agreed with the treatment plan she had for him.  He was very confident and impressed with how Dr. McManaman has handled Jayson’s case and he offered any future assistance we needed.  Dr. Federman was still going to have their own pathologist look at all the biopsy slides and have one of their radiologist review all the x-rays, MRI, Ultra-sound and PET scan to make sure nothing was missed.  In addition to this, additional chest x-rays were done to get more information on the bone deformity on Jayson’s chest to see if perhaps this is the primary source of the cancer.  Once they have a complete picture, he will review Jayson’s case and present it to the Sarcoma’s Center Tumor Board that will meet on Thursday evening, December 22.  According to Dr. Federman, they should have a final report for us Friday morning, December 23.

We left the Sarcoma Center with some peace of mind knowing that everything was being handled perfectly and treatment was the latest and most effective way of handling aveolar rhabdomyosarcoma.   Jayson’s initial treatment plan has been fine-tuned after the final diagnosis was made. Instead of undergoing chemotherapy about every 3 weeks, it will be every 2 weeks.  Of course, this still depends on how Jayson’s body recovers from each chemo session.  Prior to each chemo session, blood work will be done to make sure his body is ready for chemo.  His next chemo is scheduled for December 26^th and will last 5 days. So, we’ll be in the hospital right after Christmas and we hope to have him home in time to celebrate New Year’s Day.