Phase XIII
Well someone from Roswell Park called me back on February 1st about the vaccine study. I was very surprised; I thought they wouldn’t call before 4 weeks. The person I talked to wrote down all my clinical information and the different treatment protocols we have tried so far. It was funny, as I had to spell the chemo drugs I have been on to be sure she took down the right ones. We talked about where I am in my treatment and she said she was passing my information on to the research team. That I will hear from them in about 4 to 6 weeks. They will have more questions for me and may request that I come in for blood work and tests. Cool I am thinking… This is very exciting to get through another screening process it seems. Plus 4 to 6 weeks gives me plenty of time to talk with my Gyn oncologist about the study, get his take on it, and of course his recommended approach to it. I see my doctor on February 7th. I have the study printed out to give to him if he doesn’t have it. I would be very surprised if he doesn’t already have it as being a GYN oncologist and affiliated with Roswell. Plus I am sure his office has received a number of calls about the study, as it is right in our back yard…
My doctor’s appointment went well. I was hoping for another 400-point drop. Alas my number basically stayed the same. It is now at 1700… I’m thinking bummer… (Laughing) I did get the talk again that the change in my number is not significant and therefore remained the same/stable, which is good. I know stable is good, I can be a bit disappointed that it didn’t drop… He agreed… On a positive note, my blood counts are the best that they have been all year… My last chest x-ray showed improvement too, my overall exam is good. He asked if I was working out because I look like I am getting fit. I said not working out, but puttering around the house, re-organizing things. So I am generally always moving around which really helps me get feeling better. I said we want to and been talking about walking a few times a week, but we have not started that yet… He asked if we had a dog, we could walk ‘em and get exercise that way… I said no, two cats who think they are dogs… He said you can’t walk cats, I said you are right, they lay down when you put a collar and leash on them and they won’t get up, laughing… I said I am really glad Megs isn’t here today because that would be another additions to the argument why we "need" a dog… He laughed and said yes I guess we can’t say no to our children… I said, nah it’s more like daddy’s can’t say no to their daughters… We have been saying no to a dog for a few years know… lol.
He asked how I tolerated the last round of chemotherapy; I looked at Lynn and said fine. He asked about my neuropathy, I said generally the same. I have some days I hardly notice it and others I am more careful because I notice it more. He shook his head and asked for a Chemotherapy nurse. They have ordered another MUGA Scan to check my heart because I have been on Doxil for 6 treatments to compare to the first one I had when I started Doxil. My last MUGA scan came out at like 67%. Wouldn’t it be a hoot if my next one was even higher! (go Cathy, go Cathy… doing a dance) lol
My treatment this go around will be the same; Cisplatin, Doxil, and
Before we were done we asked him what he thought of Roswell’s exciting announcement of a vaccine study that includes ovarian cancer. He looked curious at me, probably trying to read what my question is. He said he was surprised it is a phase I study. That Roswell had a similar vaccine study about 8 years ago that didn’t really prove anything. He mentioned when he was in residency at Roswell they were studying vaccines. I must have said “Wow” out laud… That caught his attention; he said I am not that old… I laughed saying, that is not what I meant and I have more gray hair than you do… What I meant by wow was that I didn’t hear anything about a “cancer” vaccine until this past year. He said it fell under immunotherapy (or something like that, can’t remember the exact word he used). Studying the immune system in relation to cancer was what I got out of the conversation anyway. He said you could through your name in the mix. Then the conversation went to; was I hoping that the vaccine would have an antidotal response and work for me. I said Yes of course I am hoping for that :-)… He asked me if I understood Phase I is to determine Toxicity levels for this treatment. I understood that, and that chemotherapy cannot continue while receiving the vaccine. He asked the Chemotherapy nurse that was with us what she heard from Roswell, and she simply replied they have there 20 for Phase I. I said there is always Phase II so it would make sense for Roswell to keep gathering information. Plus the news release and conference referenced a vaccine study that was done in PA with woman that had Primary Peritoneal Ovarian Cancer and is 7 years re-occurrence free. My understanding is this study is based on that one; the difference is Roswell is making the vaccine with a projected cost savings of about 50%. My GYN oncologist said he does not recommend his patients for Phase I studies because of the nature of phase I studies, he generally may recommend Phase II or Phase III. He said if Phase II or Phase III comes out and says can receive the vaccine with standard treatment(s) he would be comfortable recommending it. Studies that say vaccine alone, what happens if the vaccine does not work and the patient forgo any traditional treatments? I said that is a real concern for us hence why we are talking with him and will not make any decision one way or the other without his recommendation. Lynn feels that he wants his staff to stay in close contact with Roswell Park regarding this study so they have all the up to date information on it. That is a good thing because the more information he gets on this study the better for me, my family and their other patients…
Over the past few months I noticed my new favorite word seems to be “believe”. I have seen it many places over the holidays and many things have had this word on it… "Believe" is such a positive and powerful word… It seems I can simply say believe and I feel better, more positive, stronger and it amazes me… Huh maybe a tattoo is in order… lol Nah… I’ll just keep repeating it every chance I get… :-) That sounds better and less painful…
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