Since our last update, we have had the very disappointing news that Mr Hungerford, our trusted consultant, has been retired by the NHS; although he was willing to continue working beyond his retirement, the NHS foolishly did not agree and have brought in a new consultant (unknown to the the rest of the team) and Fintan is temporarily being seen by an existing consultant, Mr Reddy, until the new consultant is 'trained up'. Of course, we are not at all happy with this situation - likewise the the rest of Retinoblastoma team and most other patients - Mr Hungerford is the leading expert in this disease and devised all the current treatments and has dedicated over 25 years to retinoblastoma.
Anyway, Fintan was back at the Royal London on 11th November and was seen by Mr Reddy, who initially suggested he have another dose of intra-arterial chemotherapy. As Fintan has a lot of haemorrhaging in his right eye, Mr Reddy could not see clearly whether the active area was still responding to treatment and felt a third dose would do no harm. However, Dr Kingston, the oncologist, did not not agree and felt that the chemotherapy was causing the haemorraghing and that, having looked at photographs of Fintan's eye with a colleague, there was no longer any activity behind the bleed.
Thankfully, after discussing the matter it was agreed not to treat the eye at the moment and Fintan will have another EUA on 9th December and if it is decided that more treatment is required a third dose of intra-arterial chemo can be delivered a week later. Mr Reddy also picked up a suspicious area in Fintan's left eye, which can be treated with cryotherapy at his next EUA if considered necessary.
On a more positive note, we were delighted to hear from the Genetics team that Oliver has not inherited the mutation in the retinoblastoma gene and, therefore, he has no increased risk of developing retinoblastoma and does not need regular eye checks - a great relief to us all.
Introducing Oliver....
Some Hospital fun!
