Consulation with Dr. Herman

On December 28 we went to Johns Hopkins to meet with Dr. Herman. Dr. Herman is a radiation oncologist at Johns Hopkins. He and his resident Dr. Fox have been really helpful and accessable since we met them in the hospital after my mother's Whipple procedure. Dr. Herman seems like the kind of guy you could easily go and grab a beer with.

My mother had her first post-operative CT scan and bloodwork done in the morning at the Weinburgh building. We met Dr. Herman and Dr. Fox afterwards. As usual, he was really helpful:

• He mentioned Hopkins had participated in the VMP trial but stopped after 4 patients because the coordinator quit and it was a high maintenance trial. Of the 4 patients, 2 were still completing the trial but the other 2 had already had recurrance. One of the knowledgable nurses mentioned the VMP seemed to be about twice as hard as the normal regimen but that people had recovered very well a month after the intensive part was completed.
• Herman recommended talking directly with Dr. Laheru regarding the treatment plan to be offered by Hopkins. We had finally set up an official consultation with Dr. Laheru so we would just wait to see him then.

Dr. Herman sent me the results of the CT and bloodwork later. Mom's CT scan was clean and her CA 19-9 dropped to about 15.7 which was well within normal range. Great news! (Although this doesn't mean the cancer is gone).