Thursday, May 31, 2007

So much for doctors......

I saw the doc today. I already had my scan results, so I knew more Carboplatin was not an option. He says I need to find a trial. I guess the search is up to me and he will be available for consult. I have already started this based on our earlier emails. I showed him some of the other trial sthat I have looked at....I'm not sure how to read his response. It may be that since these are not standard treatments he doesn't know what to recommend or it may be that he doesn't think I will ever find anything that works and the trial stuff is too humor or distract me. I guess we may find out the answer some day.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

More bad news

emails from the doc:

Hi Jill,
The scan could have been better. It is available in My Chart for you to see, but it showed some growth in the lung nodules. Nothing new was popping up anyway. I haven't heard of the specific trial you are talking about, but there are likely a number of phase I trials at various locations. These are new drugs being tested, with little data so far regarding safety and effectiveness. They are always administered at a university setting (or at the NCI in Bethesda). The idea of a trial is probably a good one, as the standard drugs have failed to work well. I'll see what I can find out about the NCI trial, but I think there may be other standard options to think about (as they are more likely to work, honestly). I will see you when you come in.
Dan

They do have a trial that may be interesting, but you need to have a sibling who is HLA matched to donate blood cells. If you are interested, I believe the NIH requires you to be the point of contact rather than the physician, so call and see what they say about the trial...
Let me know. Here's the trial info:
Phase I Trial of T Cell Exchange With Th2/Tc2 Cells for Allogenic Stem
Cell Transplantation After Reduced Intensity Conditioning for Metastatic
Breast Cancer NCI-04-C-0131