Monday, February 21, 2011
Round 1 done
Jason had his first round of treatment on Friday. He did alright with it. Seemed to be pretty tired and his stomach bothered him more this time. Treatments will be every two weeks from here on out.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Info about Dr. appt today and treatment plan
Here is the info about Jason's dr. appt today.
We met with Dr. V today and discussed treatment options according to how the pathology came back from the biopsy. The cancer has reoccurred and has transformed from a grade II oligoastrocytoma to a grade III anaplastic astrocytoma. This means that the cancer has become more aggressive and grows more quickly. There was new growth in the left frontal lobe. There was also growth around the existing tumor area in the left occipital/parietal lobe extending into the left temporal lobe.
We have chosen to enter into a clinical trial that is utilizing 3 different drugs (Avastin, CPT-11, & Carboplatin) to knock out the cancer. Jason will begin treatment sometime next week. He will be receiving treatment every two weeks for a year. He has been on two of the drugs before. He will receive the Avastin and CPT-11 every two weeks and the carboplatin will be every 4 weeks. CPT-11 and Carboplatin are chemotherapy drugs. CPT-11 interferes with the growth of cancer cells. Carboplatin kills cancer cells. Avastin is an anti-angiogenesis drug – essentially it inhibits blood vessel formation which starves the tumor. Tumors need their own blood supply in order to grow.
Jason will receive his treatments in Midland. He will see his Duke Dr. every 8 weeks with a new MRI. I know some of you probably have questions so I’m going to try and answer some of them right now.
The trial is completely voluntary and Jason can get out of the trial at anytime. We felt no pressure to enter into the trial. If the cancer begins to progress while on this treatment, they will switch him to a different treatment plan. Jason will receive the treatment described above. There is no placebo in this study. It is a phase II study and the purpose is to determine the safety and activity of the 3 drugs against recurrent malignant gliomas, describe the activity of the 3 drugs as measured by response rate and progression-free survival, and determine the toxicity (side effects) of the combination therapy. There are, of course, side effects to treatment; however, we anticipate Jason to have similar responses as the last time he was getting treated. We anticipate fatigue, low blood counts, some nausea, high blood pressure, and possibly diarrhea. Hope this info answers your questions. If not, feel free to ask.
We met with Dr. V today and discussed treatment options according to how the pathology came back from the biopsy. The cancer has reoccurred and has transformed from a grade II oligoastrocytoma to a grade III anaplastic astrocytoma. This means that the cancer has become more aggressive and grows more quickly. There was new growth in the left frontal lobe. There was also growth around the existing tumor area in the left occipital/parietal lobe extending into the left temporal lobe.
We have chosen to enter into a clinical trial that is utilizing 3 different drugs (Avastin, CPT-11, & Carboplatin) to knock out the cancer. Jason will begin treatment sometime next week. He will be receiving treatment every two weeks for a year. He has been on two of the drugs before. He will receive the Avastin and CPT-11 every two weeks and the carboplatin will be every 4 weeks. CPT-11 and Carboplatin are chemotherapy drugs. CPT-11 interferes with the growth of cancer cells. Carboplatin kills cancer cells. Avastin is an anti-angiogenesis drug – essentially it inhibits blood vessel formation which starves the tumor. Tumors need their own blood supply in order to grow.
Jason will receive his treatments in Midland. He will see his Duke Dr. every 8 weeks with a new MRI. I know some of you probably have questions so I’m going to try and answer some of them right now.
The trial is completely voluntary and Jason can get out of the trial at anytime. We felt no pressure to enter into the trial. If the cancer begins to progress while on this treatment, they will switch him to a different treatment plan. Jason will receive the treatment described above. There is no placebo in this study. It is a phase II study and the purpose is to determine the safety and activity of the 3 drugs against recurrent malignant gliomas, describe the activity of the 3 drugs as measured by response rate and progression-free survival, and determine the toxicity (side effects) of the combination therapy. There are, of course, side effects to treatment; however, we anticipate Jason to have similar responses as the last time he was getting treated. We anticipate fatigue, low blood counts, some nausea, high blood pressure, and possibly diarrhea. Hope this info answers your questions. If not, feel free to ask.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
We are getting ready to head on over to Duke for Jason's pre-op fun. We're supposed to be there at 10:00. Not sure what is all going to happen today, but do know that we will meet the surgeon. Jason will be checked into the hospital sometime today and the biopsy will be tomorrow. Finally, feel like things are starting to move! Blessings to all, Joslyn
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