I'd be remiss.. Updated 03/08/18 10:00am


March 6, 2018 3:00pm                      Back to In the Beginning


Had an appointment with Dr. Vogelzang today.  We went over the Guardant360 Free Cell Genetic Test results, the PET-CT Scan test results, the notes from Dr. Kassahun, the Provenance Genetic Testing and discussed options for moving forward.  He concluded that the cancer is in remission and we should move on to immunotherapy.  No surgery yet, no more chemo or radiation unless needed later.  He is submitting me for a clinical trial involving Keytruda and epacadostat to improve my chances of killing off the rest of the cancer with my own immune system.  He pressed the research nurse to get a decision on getting me included in the trial by next week, so we set up another appointment for next Tuesday.  They gave me another shot of Xgeva to help with the bone hardening and flushed out my Powerport.  The nurse said I could actually let that go for 8 weeks between flushes, but the vendor's material said 4 weeks and it's been almost 6.


If I can't get into the trial for some reason, he will still put me on Keytruda by itself.  Whole new set of potential side effects, but he said it's no worse than chemo and that was a walk in the park for me.  There is a control group in the trial that only gets keytruda and a placebo. The epacadostat is a pill you take twice a day. I guess if mine say M&M on them, I'm in the control group.


March 7, 2018 10:00pm
Another research nurse, Karyn, called about a second clinical trial that also includes either Keytruda or Tecentriq, but with NKTR-214. There's no control group with this one and actually looks like a better fit with potentially a higher probability of it working.


March 8, 2018 10:00am
Just got the Guardant360 report that shows the cell free DNA circulating in my blood.  It pretty much shows why Dr. V says I'm in remission:

Both of those DNA strands dropped to 0, so none of that stuff floating around which means the tumor isn't growing anymore and is vulnerable to attack from my T-cells.



Next: Trial Motions

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