Dear All,
I keep tabs on all the postings and share them with my wife Val, who has been diagnosed with Metatstatic Stage 3 RCC. She was on Ipi/Nivo but dropped the Ipi constituant three months ago and will have had 8 fortnightly infusions of Nivo ONLY on Monday. Next follows a phone consultation from her Oncon on Thursday.
Val had a CT scan on Saturday, this being the second scan since treatment began in early August. We would welcome any advice on questions she should raise when the call comes through; I'm thinking asking about how her blood results are doing? Also, which drugs which might be next in line for treatment. We're not really sure which particular aspects of her blood tests which might indicate her general health, but would be pleased for any guidance.
Our very best wishes to everyone for improvement in their condition
Ron and Val
Hi there, this appt sounds like the feedback of the most recent CT scan results? But if the scan was Sat and the onco appt is only Thursday and that doesn't sound very long for the radiologist to write the report. Normally my onco books the scan and states "I want the results for dd/mm/yy" (2 weeks later) and books a review meeting with me 2 days after he's asked for the results back. Make sure you get the radiologist's assessment of the scan and not the oncologist's view. The radiologist really knows what they are talking about and have tools (IT systems) available to measure things. You could ask about change in tumour size, change in vascular activity, any new growth areas are the big monitoring pointers. If the onco hasn't got the radiologist report back then ask them to phone you when they do.
When I see my onco we agree the next CT scan date and subsequent review appt which is always 12 weeks time.
I like to do F2F meetings with mine because (a) it's a trip out (b) to build a better relationship with my onco (c) they can show you the scan pics on the screen (d) better audiology/easier to communicate than the phone. It's only 30 mins drive. I went to see mine on Tuesday last week and we had a great laugh 
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The onco will be wanting to find out how your wife is coping with the treatment, any side effects etc.
