John, Kev, and others,

Knowing you both navigated the tunnel and came out well is good reassuring
news indeed to me. Thanks for your thoughts and good wishes, and thanks to
others who responded with helpful info.

I have a great set of docs and a well known cancer center on my side. Its
still a scary thing. Mental attitude swings from the mostly coolly
analytical to occasional bouts of real fear.

It will work out. My prognosis is excellent at this point. The cancer,
while invasive shows no evidence of spread and was caught early. Second
opinion was sought from another well respected fellow and the opinions
received and likely treatment plans offerred were virtually identical to my
first doc.

Google has become my new best friend as I attempt to understand all I can
about the beast. Drinking from a fire hose comes to mind. None of this is
new to you I am sure. Lots of treatment topics options remain open pending
post-op path reports, so we wait for the next shoe to drop.

The FAA medical seems quite doable as well, thanks for sharing your
experiences there as well..


Thanks again, and good luck on the instrument training John.


"J. Severyn" wrote in message
. ..
Kev,
Thanks for the best wishes....

Sure. It was a fairly rare cancer called MFH .. Malignant Fibrous
Histiocytoma. Only about 5000 cases in the US every year. Fortunately my
HMO had a doc that saw a relatively large number of cases of this junk and
specialized in its treatment. I was at the right place at the right time,
but had a bad cancer. That special doc is no longer at my HMO, but to his
credit, is now teaching at UCSF in San Francisco. I'm glad he is giving
his knowledge to the next generation of physicians.

After losing 50 pounds on the chemo, he said....."it is time to operate".
All went well. But I did lose a few extra pounds of flesh (tumor) on my
leg. The radiation killed half of my femur, but a set of interlocking
titanium-niobium rods supports it and I still ride a bicycle
today......although with much more care. And of course I have my standard
3rd class medical back.... and right now I'm taking a break from studying
for an Instrument Ground quiz we are having in class this evening.

Yes I was lucky.... no metatastic sites...or they were so small that the
chemo got them..and now that is fairly sure as I'm way down on the right
side of the re-occurrence bell curve. In my case it peaks at 18 months.

I just hope that Chas is fortunate to find a great medical team.... and
assuming he is listening... works with them....and asks lots of questions.
My doc kept me in on all the decisions. At one point he told me...."it is
50-50....what way do you want to go?" That gives you POWER.....It really
made me feel like I was taking hold of the horns of this monster and
winning..... Although at the time it was frightening. As a pilot, you
can understand the technical stuff. I even mapped radiation on the rest
of my body, by taping dosimeters under my Tshirt. (I had access to small
thermoluminescent dosimeters and a way of reading them). Funny... after
my last radiation treatment, the rad doc said, "Hey.....you know about
this stuff, you should have brought in some dosimeters. We would have let
you use them." I about choked.....because that is exactly what I had
done. I should have been more trusting and just asked. But the dose
outside the tumor area was just as he had predicted.... Those docs and
techs really know their high tech radiation machines. (thank you Varian
and Siemens)

Chas..... we are so fortunate! Many of our illnesses would have been
fatal 50 years ago. Today, the opposite is the norm. I hope your medical
team works as well as mine did. In any case, I for one, have you and Jim
and all folks who fight these battles in my thoughts every day.

Best Wishes,
John Severyn


"Kev" wrote in message
oups.com...
On Feb 27, 1:11 am, "J. Severyn" wrote:
Chas,
I will not make any comments on your particular situation, the medical
folks
have those answers.

But almost 9 years ago I started a fight with a particularly mean type
of
cancer. After chemo, surgery, radiation and a metal implant to save my
femur from breaking at a later date, my orthopedic oncologist wrote a
letter
to the FAA saying he could see no reason to keep me from flying. (this
was
about 6 months after chemo/ 4 months after surgery/ 3 months after
chemo/ 1
month after the metal implant).

John (and Jim) thanks for your detailed experiences. John, can I ask
what type of cancer? One thing that seems important to the FAA is
the type, and whether it's spread or not.

Here's a short example list for AOPA members:

http://www.aopa.org/members/pic/medi...cation/cancer/

It claims, for example, that with colon cancer it might only take six
months, whereas with some lung cancers, it could take five years.

Stay indication free!
Regards, Kev