On June 14th, Bruce had an appointment with Pancreatic Cancer specialist, Dr. Allyson Ocean. Dr. Ocean is affiliated with Weil Cornell Medical Center in New York City. She is the founder of the “Let’s Win” campaign, which is frequently shown on television commercials.

This was our third appointment with Dr. Ocean and was recommended by Bruce’s oncologist, Dr. Abbasi, after the mass in Bruce’s abdomen grew slightly. Dr. Ocean is pleased with the new chemo regimen Dr. Abbasi put Bruce on recently. She said our goal is to keep this abdominal mass in check. As long as it doesn’t grow or spread to other organs, Bruce is considered “stable.” However, this is a chronic condition which will always require some form of treatment.

We discussed several options should the new chemo fail to yield positive results. Dr. Ocean will review the results of Bruce’s next Cat scan. As for Bruce’s high CA 19 numbers (tumor markers), Dr. Ocean’s response was: “I treat people, not numbers.” Having said that, she will also be monitoring Bruce’s markers going forward.

Bruce and I, and Doug- who accompanied us to our appointment- all agree that the news we received was more positive than we’d anticipated. And that made for a very good day!

-Linda Hill

For more information on “Let’s Win,” Please go to: www.letswinpc.org