[Magdalen] Clinical trial

[Christopher Hart]

Best wishes and prayers heading your way, Eleanor.

On Fri, Dec 9, 2016 at 12:52 PM Eleanor Braun <eleanor.braun at gmail.com>
wrote:

> You may recall that I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in September 2014.
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> Since then I've been through surgery and two rounds of chemotherapy.
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> After my trip to Iona and England this last September, my cancer marker had
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> once again gone up to the point where I needed further treatment.  After
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> further tests and a visit to my top doc at Dana Farber Cancer Institute in
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> Boston, I learned my options.
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> For the first time those options included three clinical trials.  In the
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> past I've been hesitant about clinical trials, mainly because they require
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> frequent trips to Boston from Cape Cod.  But now I'm more open to them.
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> As I learned about the available trials, the one that really caught my
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> attention was a combination of a standard chemotherapy with an
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> immunotherapy drug.  That drug is the same one that was used to treat and
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> cure Jimmy Carter's brain tumor (which was metastasized melanoma).  Several
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> trials are now being undertaken to test that approach on other tumors.
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> So I had to wait until slots in the trial were opened up, and go through
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> more tests and exams, but I will finally start treatment next Monday at
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> Dana Farber.  I won't have to go every week; the chemo is given every four
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> weeks, and the immuno treatment every three weeks.
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> And I know I will be getting both drugs, not a placebo.  This is a phase 2
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> trial, where they are testing the dosing and timing, but everybody gets the
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> treatment.
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> Tests so far have indicated the immuno drug has less side effects than
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> regular chemo.  And I've tolerated the chemo side effects fairly well
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> through the first two rounds.
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> So I'm hopeful that this will be a tolerable treatment with the possibility
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> of improvement, at least for a while.  Ovarian is regarded as an
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> "aggressive" cancer, and the best hope is to keep beating it back as long
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> as possible.
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> Your prayers for peace and hope are welcome.
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> Eleanor
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