Finally, some good news. John's scans from last week indicate no evidence of cancer at the primary site in his right cheek. The miniscule spots on his lungs remain just that.....miniscule. They are no smaller, but, more importantly, there is NO growth. With these results, he continues in the Belinostat clinical trial.
As I previously wrote, he was experiencing some pain & burning sensation at the infusion site during the last few minutes of infusion. That seems to have been remedied by running a saline drip concurrently with the infusion. He had his 1st treatment today in round #3 and all went well. Due to the Memorial Day holiday, there was no treatment on Monday, so we will be here until Saturday this week, in order to get in all 5 infusions. Then it's back home for two weeks before returning for Round #4, after which he will, again, be re-scanned and they will assess whether he continues with the trial.
I just pray he continues to respond well and makes more progress toward controlling this "C" monster.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Week #2 of Belinostat - winding down
As we near the end of week #2, all is well. They did slow the infusion rate from 30 minutes to 1 hour, which reduced the pain & burning sensation at the IV site. It did not, however, totally eliminate it. We found out today that it seems to be common among the participants of this study to experience these effects. I wonder if, perhaps, they might need to give each of them a port to eliminite these complications.
Other than that, John continues to tolerate the drug very well. The only other minor effect is some heartburn, but Zantac takes care of that. He takes it at the first sign of discomfort and it is stopped almost immediately.
So, he has his last treatment of the week tomorrow, after which we'll pack up and head back home. He'll be scanned on the 21st to see how he's progressing. If there is improvement, or even status quo, he will continue in the trial, which means continuing the schedule of one week treatment followed by two weeks off and repeated as such over and over. However, should he have some growth in the cancer, they will re-evaluate and probably pull him from the study and start him on some other chemo treatment. My prayer is that Belinostat is working for him and reducing the cancer.
Other than that, John continues to tolerate the drug very well. The only other minor effect is some heartburn, but Zantac takes care of that. He takes it at the first sign of discomfort and it is stopped almost immediately.
So, he has his last treatment of the week tomorrow, after which we'll pack up and head back home. He'll be scanned on the 21st to see how he's progressing. If there is improvement, or even status quo, he will continue in the trial, which means continuing the schedule of one week treatment followed by two weeks off and repeated as such over and over. However, should he have some growth in the cancer, they will re-evaluate and probably pull him from the study and start him on some other chemo treatment. My prayer is that Belinostat is working for him and reducing the cancer.
Monday, May 7, 2012
BELINOSTAT....Week #2
We arrived safely back at Hope Lodge yesterday with the anticipation of John beginning week #2 of the clinical trial. As with all clinical trials, there is a lot of monitoring of various vitals & info. To that end, our day began with lab work, followed by a visit with the Doc in charge of the trial, then an EKG, and finally the pre-meds (anti-nausea, etc.) & actual infusion, resulting in 5+ hours being spent in the hospital today. Needless to say, we're both tired.
John's bloodwork indicates normal levels are being maintained and the EKG was normal, so they proceeded with the infusion. All went well until he was finished with the infusion and they had removed the IV....at which time he started experiencing pain & a burning sensation originating at the IV site and travelling up his arm. After a few minutes of applying a hot pack, the pain & burning had subsided. By then, however, he was feeling a little light-headed, so they re-checked his blood pressure which was REALLY low at 92/48. Although the Doc suggested some IV fluids, John didn't really want to do another IV, so they had him remain where he was & rest, re-checking the BP every 15 minutes or so. It took about 45 minutes, but the BP did return to normal ranges.
Don't know exactly what caused all this, but tomorrow the plan is to slow down the infusion rate and see if that helps. It is normally prescribed to be infused over a period of 30 minutes, so they'll slow it to 1 hour and see if that changes anything. Obviously, that whole incident caused some anxiety, so he's a bit tired this evening......but all in all doing well and eating well.
He is now hanging out here in the livingroom @ the Lodge watching Dancing with the Stars with 3 ladies.....LOL!!! Those of you who really know John will realize how weird THAT is.....not that he's hanging out the with ladies (he's always done that), but that he is actually watching that show!!!!!
John's bloodwork indicates normal levels are being maintained and the EKG was normal, so they proceeded with the infusion. All went well until he was finished with the infusion and they had removed the IV....at which time he started experiencing pain & a burning sensation originating at the IV site and travelling up his arm. After a few minutes of applying a hot pack, the pain & burning had subsided. By then, however, he was feeling a little light-headed, so they re-checked his blood pressure which was REALLY low at 92/48. Although the Doc suggested some IV fluids, John didn't really want to do another IV, so they had him remain where he was & rest, re-checking the BP every 15 minutes or so. It took about 45 minutes, but the BP did return to normal ranges.
Don't know exactly what caused all this, but tomorrow the plan is to slow down the infusion rate and see if that helps. It is normally prescribed to be infused over a period of 30 minutes, so they'll slow it to 1 hour and see if that changes anything. Obviously, that whole incident caused some anxiety, so he's a bit tired this evening......but all in all doing well and eating well.
He is now hanging out here in the livingroom @ the Lodge watching Dancing with the Stars with 3 ladies.....LOL!!! Those of you who really know John will realize how weird THAT is.....not that he's hanging out the with ladies (he's always done that), but that he is actually watching that show!!!!!
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