today at school i received a call from karen. emory called and wanted us to come in right away this morning to talk about the MRI instead of waiting for the appointment tomorrow. i don't care who you are that can't be good news.
when there, the doctor told us that the MRI showed that there was some areas of the tumor that the avastin was working on, but there was other parts that had some new growth meaning the avsitn is not working there. he said this was a concern because usually when the avastin works well and for a long time there is no new growth.
so, what he wanted to do is add a chemo drug to the avastin treatments. he explained that when avastin was first going through its clinical trails it was first done in conjunction with this chemo drug CPT-11 (for short, it has a long fancy doctor name). when it came time to FDA approve the avastin the stats showed that the CPT-11 on average did not effect the outcome in any way. this means that for some people it helped alot and for other it did not help at all. so the avastin was approved without the CPT-11.
if we choose to do this the side effects may be nausea and diarrhea, but the avastin may not still work and the tumor may still grow.
i brought up the chances of clinical trails. emory has none right now but he looked into one at duke u. that is testing and avastin like drug called XL-184. this is a drug given in pill form. it is a clinical trial that has shown alot of great promise, but is still just a trail. emory said they would help us look into the trail if we choose to do that.
at 8pm tuesday night we have to decide what direction we should go. this has to be done by sometime tomorrow morning.
i am very confused
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2 comments:
Doug, I am praying for you. I have also shared your information with some other prayer warriors. I hope you will find a peace about one of the options and that it will be clear to you once it is actually time to make a decision. I wish there was more that I could do for you, but know that I am continuously lifting you up in prayer.
I love you guys.
Karen and Doug, I know this is a very hard decision. The clinical trial sounds promising but I know that includes travel time to and from Duke... but I also know you two will make the best decision for Karen and your family. Prayers for you and I truly believe GOD will help you know which direction to take. Love you, hugs to both of you and all of your family there in Georgia. Debbie
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