Dear Colleagues, I had telescopic video thoracic surgery today to remove the tumor (8 mm) off my left lung - in doing this, they also found 2 other smaller tumors, also removed. The current plan is to start new chemo treatment next week - at least 4 cycles, each 2 weeks long. The marker progress in blood will determine the actual treatment length. The removed tumors will be analyzed to find their genetic origin. I have a tube inserted near left lung to monitor healing progress overnight - I'm on pain killers and Karen & I will remain at the hospital at least overnight. I thank you for your good wishes and prayers - and will keep you informed of significant changes in my progress. Arvind Sent from my iPhone On Nov 21, 2017, at 10:01 PM, Varma, Arvind <avarma@purdue.edu<mailto:avarma@purdue.edu>> wrote: Dear Colleagues, As many are aware, my cancer marker in blood was going up the last 6 weeks, from stable 11 for 7-8 months, to 23 six weeks ago and 30 two weeks ago (up to 35 is considered to be safe value). Thus, I accelerated visit to my clinic in Scottsdale for scans (done every 3-4 months) - Karen & I reached here on Sunday evening. I had CT & PET scans plus blood tests yesterday (Monday). The results from the oncologist meeting late today confirm our suspicion: there is indeed a new small tumor growing off my left lung. They will do more tests to determine its nature but it appears that I'll go on a new course of chemotherapy starting soon. The duration depends on my response and decrease of cancer marker but may easily last 6-8 weeks, unknown yet. Fortunately, owing to marker value determined every 2 weeks (under stable condition, it was measured every 4 weeks, but since it began to rise, we started measuring it every 2 weeks), the tumor was caught early. With this, I'll delay my visit to UCLA (was scheduled for Dec-Feb) and now it may not occur at all. I need to stay here under my oncologists' care until the cancer marker decreases and remains stable at a safe value. I'll continue working from here remotely and have regular meetings with my research students by Skype, Tel calls and email - work has always been good therapy for me. I thank you for your continued prayers and good wishes. With best wishes - Happy Thanksgiving! Arvind Arvind Varma R. Games Slayter Distinguished Professor Charles D. Davidson School of Chemical Engineering Purdue University Editor, Cambridge Series in Chemical Engineering Tel: 765-494-8484<tel:765-494-8484>; Fax: 765-494-0805<tel:765-494-0805>; Email: avarma@purdue.edu<mailto:avarma@purdue.edu> https://engineering.purdue.edu/ChE/People/ptProfile?id=11068 Sent from my iPhone