Chemotherapy Clinical Trial Is A Go!

With just a little less than 24hrs before my first scheduled treatment I arrived at the General Hospital for one last blood test and a quick visit with the Oncologist.

I was expecting a long wait at the blood lab located in the hospital but it turned out I was the only early riser there for 8am. This stop didn't take more than 5 minutes so I had over an hour wait for my next appointment. We decided to register early with the oncologist and this worked out in my favour as they did take me almost 30 mins earlier than scheduled.

My oncologist and clinical trial nurse both came in at the same time, they asked a few questions and briefly talked about my treatment tomorrow. Everything to this point was still pointing towards the possibility of me participating in the clinical trial. The results were back from my CT scan last week and the best news possible was that no spots were visible on the liver. The little spots from the pet scan must have been the beer hops from the previous night after all! The scan did show growth in the main tumour since last November. I didn't think to ask about the little one but the larger one has gone from 2.7 cm to 4.0 cm. I told myself that this was the last time it would have a chance to grow, tomorrow is coming fast and the trial will bring it to an end!

Another little trial popped up today which I agreed to participate in. It only involves a few blood tests and 9 weeks of maintaining a journal. They are looking for genetic links that lead to the probability of side effects while using one of the four chemotherapy drugs.

Early this afternoon I received a phone call that all of my blood work was back and that it was 100% confirmed that I would be starting the clinical trial tomorrow. This truly made my day. I had high hopes for participating in this trial and I really didn't want to settle for less after learning about this study. I also found out that most people on the trial have not lost their hair. It appears to be a a thinning process for most instead of large hair loss all at once. Maybe I will need to hit the dollar store and pick up the clip on braids that Jax made me aware of last weekend!

One last task was on my list for today and I was not looking forward to this one. It was finally the last possible moment that I had to talk to the kids about what is going on with Mommy. I know I procrastinate in some areas of my life but putting this one off until now really takes the cake. Thankfully the kids were amazing and very positive. I think they were relieved to know that I wasn't going to be hospitalized for a long period of time and Braedon simply said, "if they have treatment then there is a cure". I stopped for a moment and quickly realized he was correct, there are cures out there and I will be one of the success stories. Kenzie had a few little questions but was mostly curious about what this illness had to do with my last surgery. Her last statement was "now two people in my family have cancer". I am glad they are now aware and that their day to day life will remain fairly normal.

Tomorrow is day one of treatment. I need to be at the hospital for 7am to have the port installed and therapy is scheduled to begin at 9:30 am. The IV will run between 4 and 6 hours so I am planning on a long day.

I will touch base over the next few days and let everyone know how I am feeling.

Karen