"Their thoroughness is remarkable."

Today my mom and dad met with several urologic specialists, including Dr. Dalbagni, at Memorial Sloan Kettering. I think my dad felt very understood by them, and took great comfort in their expertise. Tomorrow my mom will pick up the photo CD of my dad's CT scan (which initially revealed the tumor a few weeks ago). On Friday he will have a second exam to attempt to determine whether the tumor is attached to any other organs. And on March 7th he'll have a PET scan to determine whether it has metastasized, so we expect to know much more after that.

The plan is to have him begin chemotherapy on March 12th, with three days of chemo followed by eighteen days off. The entire round of chemo will last approximately three months. At that point they will operate, probably to remove the whole bladder. At MSK, they do not recommend radiation to treat these types of tumors.

In my dad's words: "My overall feeling is that I went to the right hospital. Their thoroughness is remarkable."

The news

Hi, everyone.

Three weeks ago my dad went to the doctor after finding blood in his urine, which led to the discovery of a mass in his bladder. They believed it was likely to be cancer, but needed to remove the mass and do a biopsy to be certain and to decide on a course of action.

I flew to New York to be with him and my mom and Ilya for the week of the surgery, and on February 19th the mass was removed at Beth Israel hospital. The biopsy came back on Friday the 22nd. It indicated that he has a rare form of small-cell carcinoma, accounting for less than one percent of all bladder cancers, that is known for being aggressive. A second biopsy, to confirm these initial results, came in today.

Because this type of bladder cancer is so rare, there is no one accepted treatment path. My dad and mom are meeting with Dr. Guido Delbagni, at Memorial Sloan Kettering, tomorrow at 12pm to talk to him more about the prognosis and treatment. Chemotherapy, radiation, and further surgery are all possibilities.

We've created this blog, which is named for a poem by Rumi, as a place where we can update everyone who loves and cares about my dad in one central location. Please feel free to comment or reach out to any one of us directly. To be automatically notified when a new post goes up, enter your email address in the bar at the top of the page and click "Submit."

It has been an extremely emotional week for our entire family; we are so thankful for your support and your love as we cope with this new reality.

With love-
Eddie, Hana, Ilya & Leda