Today we had our rescheduled consent meeting with Dr Lakhani and Penny signed on the dotted line. This initiates the official "screening phase", which will involve some scans, blood work, and an education session in the next couple weeks. While it is possible that something could come up during the screening phase that is a disqualifier, our nurse said that no one in this study has been disqualified after the consent meeting. So we are all systems go and very likely to stay that way.
Treatment is set to begin on Tuesday, September 27. The "lead in phase" will include treatments with the study drug on three consecutive Tuesdays. After that, we switch to "cycle 1", which pairs the study drug with another drug. In cycle 1 (and beyond), treatments will be every three weeks with weekly check-ins.
The first treatment of the lead-in and the first treatment of cycle 1 will include overnight hospital stays and a return to the clinic the next day for close monitoring during the first 24 hours. If those go well, the other treatments will just be long days at the START clinic.
Penny will be part of stage 9 (of 10) in the dosing part of the study. That means she will get the second highest dose envisioned in the study. It also means that quite a few people have been through this before her. While there is a long list of potential side effects, it sounds like most people in the trial have found it better than their previous chemotherapy. We'll see how it plays out for Penny.
We'll also be watching to see how effective the treatment ends up being. According to the consent form, "There is no promise that your condition will get better. It might stay the same or it may get worse. The study drugs may even be harmful." Our nurse has a more optimistic take: "While we hope for [the cancer] to shrink, our goal it to keep [it] stable."
Comments
Alisa Tigchelaar: Praying with and for you, Penny and Randy, that: Penny remains qualified, and that the initial treatments plus cycle one go well. Grateful with you for the enhanced care of overnight hospital stays in the beginning and a stages approach that includes one carefully tailored for Penny. Praying, too, that the effects will be less than what Penny has previously experienced in her treatments, and that the new ones will stabilize the cancer at least. Thank you for this list of concrete things to bring forward in prayer. We do so also boldly, knowing our God can shrink cancer.
Patricia Boer Fischer : Thank-U So Much 4 Keepin Us Posted, Ur n Our Prayers, We Think of Ya's both Often, God b-with Ya's, Hugg's, Lots of Love & Prayers 2Ya's Patricia Fischer ❤
Dave and Liz Sherry: Continuing to pray for God's divine healing!!
Mary Hulst: One step at a time! Praying that this works wonders, and that your side effects are minimal.
Susan Langeland: So thankful for this opportunity for you, Penny- and that others have gone before you so that you can hear about their experience. Hoping and praying you also find this treatment less difficult and that is very effective. I hope you and Randy are having a relaxing evening after a big day.
George Monsma, Jr.: Ellen and I are praying that the screening goes well, Penny can enter the trial, and it will be effective against the cancer without bad side effects.