Short Game

Well the waiting game ended up being shorter than we’d thought it would be, not for the results of the tumor snapshot, which of course is taking longer than expected. I received a call Monday night from the Phase 1 clinical trial RN, Sue, asking me to come into the office on Tuesday to talk about, and potentially sign the consent form for, a trial that has come about. Sue stated that both Dr. H and Dr. Cho agreed that it would be a worthwhile attempt, even though we do not yet have the results of the snapshot.

As with our first appointment with Dr. Cho and Sue, the meeting proved to be overwhelming. Even though Sue emailed me the 26 page consent form which I read through thoroughly, there was still an abundance of information and changes to take in.

This trial uses two drugs (SAR245408 and SAR256212) that have been used before, but are being used in combination for the first time; one is an oral drug taken daily and the other is administered through an IV weekly. This trial is at tier 4, which means that this is the fourth increase of the dosage for this combination of drugs; which is very good for me because it means that the dosage is at a level where it could actually help, instead of the under-dosing where a phase 1 trial must begin. I have been told that these two drugs seem to be tolerated well, and that other chemotherapy drugs that I have been on are harder to handle than these are. It all seems fine and dandy right? Well, there’s always a catch.

I stated in my last post that phase 1 trials were extremely time consuming, and I heard them say this, and I took in this information; but, I did not fully comprehend how much time and money being in a trial would entail, until this last appointment. Prior to being accepted in the trial I must go through a screening process: ct scan, echocardiogram, blood work, physical exam, and an EKG. Assuming that I am eligible following the screening process, I will begin the trial Thursday, October 25th. Being on a trial not only means that I had to change doctors, but it also means that I will be treated in a different building with different nurses and staff – it’s like starting all over again. I will go into more detail about the trial schedule after Monday’s appointment. I’m going to take this new venture one step at a time.

UPCOMING APPTS:
10/20: CT Scan
10/22: Echocardiogram, blood work, physical exam, EKG