Pericles updated:2007.11.11

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Introduction:
Please, tell us your first name, gender and your age and maybe a short discribtion about yourself, family, profession, where you live......
Answer:
I am Periklis, I live in Greece. I am a successful ophthalmologist and experienced surgeon. I operate around 15-20 patients per week, I was jogging every day around 5-6 miles (before the surgery) and was running a busy practice of around 30 patients per day with complex eye problems

Diagnosis:
1. How was your cancer detected?
Answer: I was experiencing back pain for 4 years. I had MRIs of the cervical spine that were negative. I was being examed in the O.R. by some orthopaedic collegues of mine, right before my scheduled cases and both them and me were always in a rush.
They suggested me to have physiotherapy. It didn't work. I had a plain chest x-ray that was diagnosed by the radiologist as negative (it turned out later that this radiologist was not so experienced as I thought).
Another doctor suggested me to have an MRI of the shoulder because my right shoulder was hurting also. The MRI was diagnosed positive for tenonditis and some orthopaedics suggested me to have surgery.
Because I am a surgeon myself I asked for a second opinion from a US orthopaedic surgeon during one of my business trip to US. This US doctor suggested to me to have a MRI of the mediastinum to rule out mass. I returned to Greece after my business trip and had an MRI. This MRI came back positive for a mass. I will never forget this day. I was having the MRI in my scrubs and was waiting to start my 6 scheduled cases. I was in the MRI for more than 2 hours. When I came out they told me that "you have a mass in your mediastinum, we don't know yet what that is. You are going to have a biopsy and depending on the results you are going to either start chemo or have surgery".
I was devastated, but when to my surgical room and finished off my 6 planned cases

2. Did you feel any kind of pain or did you notice a change of your body?
Answer: See above

3. Do you know your staging?
Answer: 4a (I had 2 small pleural nodules that were dissapeared after the first round of induction chemo) type C thymoma (thymic cancer, the most aggresive form of thymoma)

4. Do you have a family history of cancer?
Answer: A cousin who died of testicular cancer

5. Did you have any kind of surgery before?
Answer: No

Treatment:
6. What kind of treatment did you receive (be as specific as possible)
-surgery (was your cancer invasive? which organs where involved?)
Answer: I got surgery 3 months after the first diagnosis and had the entire mass removed. I got 3 rounds of induction chemo before

-chemotherapie ( name the chemo and write down how many rounds you received)
Answer: Yes, 3 rounds of induction chemo before. I got the CAP regimen (cyclophosphamide, adriamycin and cisplatin)

-radiation (what dosis did you receive) 60Gy - 35 sessions right after the surgery

-or a different kind of treatment
Answer:

Where there any kind of side effects involved in your treatment?
Answer: Treatment no. But during the biopsy (that was done in Greece) they went through the lung and had hemothorax (heme in the thoracic cavity)

7. Feelings - Emotions
What was your feeling when you heard your diagnosis? I couldn't believe my ears. I though I was dreaming. In 2 day after the first shock, I had a biopsy. They told me that it was cancer
( The answer to this question might be very helpful for all new patients!)
Answer: I couldn't believe my ears. I though I was dreaming. In 2 day after the first shock, I had a biopsy. They told me that it was cancer. I understood that the situation was really bad. I flew to England to get another opinion. They told me there to start induction chemo in an effort to shrink the tumor to make it operable. I will never forget the words of the oncologist "you will have these drugs to prolong your life)

How did you feel during your treatment
- For example: During chemo you might have felt nausiated
Answer: Chemo was real bad. I don't want to go through this again. Also right before the surgery I was very scared. I knew that this was a real difficult surgery and I might not wake up, or I might suffer post-op. Now I see that this was the easiest step of my treatment for me, most probably because I was in very experienced surgical hands

8. What was the most difficult part during your treatment
Answer: Chemo

9. Where were you treated (name the hospital with the full adress )
Answer: Chemos in Greece. I was fortunate to have a collegue that is working with me doing some research in the internet and told that I should definetely seek to have treatments in the US. I had surgery at the MGH Boston

10. If you can recommend your doctor let us know his/her name.
Answer: Absolutely. I met a wonderful doctor and I think he did a great job removing a stage 4a cancer. His name is Dr. Cameron Wright

11. What tip could you give a new patient?
Answer: Search- ask- don't give up. It is a rare cancer, go and find a skilled surgeon. High volume thoracic surgeons in referral center are most likely to have more experience and less complications

12. What bothered you the most during your treatment?
Answer: Chemo

13. What helped you most during this period?
Answer: Although I am a surgeon, I never read numbers and statistics about my case. I am aware that they are not very optimistic about a patient with stage 4a thymic cancer (My thymoma was type C, that is thymic cancer) but only God knows from which side of the statistics I am going to be in 5 years from now. Of course support from family and friends is important.

14. How're you feeling today?
Answer: Very good physically. I am not able to jog again yet, I have around 85 heart beats, but I am waiting to recover more so I can run again

15. Tell us a bit about your check-ups?
- Where do you get your check-ups
- How often do you go for a check up?
- What do they do at your check up? CT scan
Answer: I am gonna have my first check up in January. They are asking for a CT.

16. How do you feel before you have to go to a check up
- Are you nervous, relaxed .....
Answer: I am sure that I am going to be very nervous

17. What do you do to make this time as easy as posssible?
- For example: You take a friend or relativ with you
Answer:

18. Do you take any precautions to prevent the recurrence from cancer?
Answer: Pray and thank God that I had gonne through this with minor casualties

19. Have you made significant changes to your life after you got cancer?
Answer: Not yet. I got back to my real life and work a lot. I try to keep my mind busy. Sometimes I think that all this was a bad dream

20. How 're you feeling about the disease
- are you optimistic about outcome from your cancer
- are you more afraid that it might return
Answer: Yes and yes
21. Status - how is your progress?
ie. chemo didn't work, don't want to do surgery or radiation since it is too invasive at this point.
Answer:

22. Ideas/recommendation ...
Answer: Read the book of Lance Armstrong "It is not about the bike". When I read it I though I was seeing myself facing this situation

23. Leave your e-mail adress in case you want to get contacted from other thymoma patients.
ploumis@otenet.gr