All systems go for plan "G".

At least we think we're up to plan "G" by now.  My apologies for not updating sooner.  To me, all this talk of  different treatments, chemos, and clinical trials is beginning to get tedious.  Ken reminded me, though, that this blog is my only source of communication from me to many of you.  Gotta keep up the blog.  I promise I will do better.

So, last Tuesday we met with the clinical trial doctors and also with my oncologist, Dr. K.  The clinical trial people had another trial for me if I chose to go that route.  It was a Phase 1 trial, the very beginning of it.  It would be a low dose of a drug called CBLB502.  In the protocol it stated that those who received the lower dosage were less likely to see any response in their tumors.  Hmmmmm.  It took Ken and I approximately 3.4 seconds to decide against it.  We then went for our appointment with Dr. K.  I like Dr. K.  He is a good man.  We told him about the clinical study we had just learned about.  I gave him my copy of the written protocol so he could look through it.  We told him of our reservations regarding the low dosage. He understood.  We talked again about the Adriamycin with the heart protectant.  (Just to recap, this chemo was the very first chemo I was on a couple of years ago.  We got an excellent response with it.  I was only allowed 6 or 7 rounds of it because too much can damage the heart.  They give it to children and breast cancer patients with this heart protectant which seems to alleviate the risk of heart damage.)  He also mentioned the possibility of sarcoma-based clinical trials at other hospitals.  I told him we were becoming weary making all of these decisions.  I asked him what he would recommend at this point.  He said he felt that the Adriamycin was a very reasonable option.  He would have me do 2 rounds, then a CT scan, then another 2 rounds.  He said he would be comfortable doing 4 rounds, no more.  That sounded good to us.  I go for my first infusion on 2/28.  They'll give me the heart protectant first (Vinegard), then the good stuff.  It should only take about 45 minutes.  The side effects are nausea, flu-like symptoms and fatigue.  The nausea really is a non-issue with me.  They have so many wonderful anti-nausea drugs these days.  As I recall from the last time, my main issue was the fatigue, but it only lasted for a few days.  Once we're done with this, on to plan "H".  Such is my life.  Oh well.  I figure as long as there are letters left in the alphabet, I'm good.  Aside from a bit of a cough, I really can't complain.  Hard to believe it's been almost 3 years since I was diagnosed.  All in all, I feel quite blessed to feel as well as I do.

Until next time . . .