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D-MoZone is the place to find out what’s new with pianist/composer/educator Diane Moser. Keep an eye on this blog for updates on music, health, gigs, fundraisers, random thoughts and all things D-Mo. And please keep sending your thoughts, good wishes and comments this way—they’re always needed and always appreciated.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

saw my oncologist last week

Hey you guys,
Just updating.......my levels look good-except for my AST-which is a liver enzyme-so they are running the blood thru another test.
My blood pressure was great as well as my pulse.
I had a long talk with Dr. Forte about gene mutation testing-he is having the original pathologist check some things-we're specifically looking for what type of exon the gene mutation is. The gene mutation test that is available is not FDA approved-and my health insurance probably wouldn't cover it-and-regardless of what the test said-Dr. Forte said I will be on Gleevec for the rest of my life-unless of course we get some evidence that I can be taken off of the drug-or-I have to go to a much stronger drug. I brought in an article about gene mutation testing and showed him-he had heard of the test-and took me seriously-so he is asking the pathologist to take another look see-"we certainly have enough tissue"-Dr. Forte said laughingly-referring to the 17 lb tumor.
He also told me I was an A Typical patient-especially for being a musician. I asked him what he meant by that-he told me that no one comes in armed with info like I do, nor, can they even discuss things like gene mutations-exons, Kit protein etc. We talked for a very long time-looked at articles on the web-articles that he has been collecting etc. It was a good meeting.
In November-we do a cat scan to see if there are any tumors.
By the way-he said sitting in the sun for vitamin D is only for teenagers and younger-it doesn't work on adults.
And lastly-at the end of our meeting we talked about jazz-which we always do. He talked about the Jersey Jazz Society-I told him the head guy for that lives in Montclair and he never answers my emails-he told me to use his name-ha! So there ya go-Dr. Forte is keeping me healthy-and forwarding my career-bonus.
Thank you all for being "my team" and for all of the support you have given me-there is just no way I could have gone thru and continue to go thru any of this without you.
love,
Diane

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