Going To Trial

Time for a straight news post. We all need a little breather from processing emotions.

David and I met with doc yesterday to make some firm plans. I am eligible to join a clinical trial of a new drug, and that seems to be the best option. Radiation therapy would shrink the existing tumor, but another one would likely pop up in its place (or elsewhere; doc mentioned specifically a concern that metastases could occur in the upper abdomen, where they are less easy to detect through regular physical exams). We already tried the most likely, and most powerful, chemotherapy, and it didn't work. Doc was skeptical that any other chemo drugs would work, and anyway, the drug she would try if I really wanted to is not available. (Have you been reading about the drug shortages? It seems the drug manufacturers aren't making the drugs that don't have a high profit margin.) No matter; I am ruling out any treatments that have a large downside, i.e. nasty side effects, unless they have a particularly large upside. Chemo does not have this potential.

The trial that I will join is testing a novel drug that attempts to cut off the blood supply to the tumor. This is a totally different treatment approach from chemotherapy, which works by killing cells. The hope is that if this drug is effective for endometrial cancer -- and my cancer in particular -- the existing tumor will not grow further and new tumors will not develop. It is not a cure, but it could help manage my disease. I can stay on the drug as long as it works, and as long as I don't experience adverse side effects. Doc says we'll know within two months if it is working. In earlier studies, the side effects were not so bad; the most likely one is edema (swelling) of the arms and legs. The drug will be administered through my IV port once each week, taking 60 minutes the first week and 30 minutes in the succeeding weeks. This sounds like a total picnic after the 4-7 hour chemo sessions.

I had a whole bunch of lab tests yesterday to make sure I meet the criteria for the study. We had to work hard to get a blood pressure reading below the cutoff, with me imagining swimming with manatees -- yes, we did this in Cozumel and they are much more placid and soporific than dolphins -- and when that didn't work, David took me through some classic relaxation techniques from his high school theater days. Doc still wants a lower reading, to provide a cushion against what she sees as an almost certain rise with the study drug. Hopefully, I'll achieve this (with the aid of medication) in the next week or two. By that time the study drug will be in hand, and I can get started.