On Trial

Got the CT scan results today. Not the results I had hoped for, mind. Seems my ongoing cough has been due to some new lesions on my lungs. No surprise really in that the depth of the cough and its association with lying down or bending over are so similar to the cough I had back in February. So, today was my last chemo day. At least for now. Spoke to my oncologist today and she is recommending a change in treatment since the Herceptin is no longer doing its job, likely due to my system developing a resistance to it or something like that. I will be taking part in a clinical trial of a drug combo that might get me back on track. The main drug, Lapatinib, works very much like the Herceptin. This will be paired with another drug called Feretanin (or something like that, can't find the proper spelling just now) which will attack from another pathway. Both are oral medications. (I will be keeping the port-a-cath for now, in case it is needed down the road, ie if we have to turn to Plan C.) Since this will be part of a clinical trial, I will have to go to the Cancer Agency in Vancouver to get the drug. My understanding is that I will take the drugs daily for a month (length of each cycle) but will only need to go to the Agency four times in the first month. Will only have to go in twice each month (each subsequent cycle is also a month long) after that. I don't have a start date as of yet. Need to have a few more tests before things can get rolling. Thank goodness I've recently had a CT scan. Will be having an echo-cardiogram in a couple weeks. Will also need a bone scan and a MUGA (heart scan). The other requirement is that my last chemo has to be at least 21 days prior to the start of the trial. So we're looking at mid-November to at the earliest as a start date. As far as I know, the only nasty side effects of the Lapatinib are diarrhea and a slim chance of toxic hepatitis. The Feretanin or whatever its called can cause high blood pressure. I'm sure I'll learn more of the good, bad, and ugly aspects of both drugs once I get all the info that is being sent along with the consent form that the study nurse is mailing. Quite bummed about not seeing the ACU team at St Mary's on a weekly basis. Also bummed that the current drug cocktail isn't working its magic quite as well as we had all hoped. At least there is an alternative treatment. And if this doesn't work, there are others we can try. So things could be much, much worse.

This drug trial thing had me wondering about what other trial offers might be available should I wish to check them out. I did a Google search of "trial offer". Interesting to find that I can get a sample of True Lemon, a lemon juice substitute (I assume they don't mean lime juice) but can't try Your Life Multi Adult Gummies, a "multivitamin speciality formula with fiber" because it is only available to US residents "whilst stocks last". The name of the product alone has me thinking myself lucky to be living north of the 49th. Interesting that Guerlain's Orchidée Impériale, an anti-aging product, is only available to Canadians. (What good is longer life if I can't improve my health with fibre-loaded multivitamins, I ask you?) Another post tells me that I can obtain a Vegetarian Starter Kit if only I would complete a form using all caps (which the post informs me = uppercase lettering - hope the kit is as informative as the post). Apparently Christina Aquilera's marriage isn't the only thing in trouble; she's giving away samples of her Royal Desire fragrance to UK residents only. If that doesn't get my olfactory lob tingling at just the right tempo, I can click onto another site offering such weird fragrances as boiled crawfish, money, or pumpkin spice. Some of the other strange things one can obtain trial offers/free samples of include e-cigarettes and Jewish Outreach Magnetic Poetry. Given the competition, I think I'm about to receive the best trial offer of all!