Sunday, December 28, 2008

New resolve

I've been doing more reading on Dr. BB's work (almost slipped up and used his full name...although who am I kidding, anybody who does a google search on Myeloma will probably know who this is). I came across a person that went through his program recently and I've reached out to correspond with her. I don't know how old she is, what strain of the disease she has/had, etc. but one of the things that struck me was that in her first consult with one of BB's team, that doctor said "there's a 50 percent chance I can cure you." They really believe that it's possible.

I still question why nobody else does. I went back and listened to the recording of my diagnosis where Dr. SH first discusses what to do and I'm struck now by what I've learned and what I would do differently than what Dr. SH initially recommended (in fairness to him, his comments were before the big hematological conference that happened in San Francisco at the beginning of December). One of SH's comments was that nobody can repilicate BB's data and he is accused of selection bias in his patients. But frankly, selection bias doesn't bother me so long as I would be one of the well-responding patients that he selects to prove his protocol works.

I will be visiting him the last week of January and I'll ask him directly why others don't believe in his protocol. Although I note that some other centers, notably one in Utah, do believe in the tandem transplant concept.

I continue to feel that given my age, this may be the way to go. We'll see.

In any case, today is a little more hopeful than yesterday, which is welcome.