Scheduled Checkup

Dr. Laheru just said that Mom's CT scan is clean. The pseudocyst actually may have shrunk in size and is nothing to worry about. CA 19-9 results will be out Friday. Next week, Mom will have her second full-week round of injections of the Hopkins vaccine. We're closing in on two years from diagnosis which will be a wonderful milestone. Mom has been also feeling somewhat more energetic these days. She attributes this to drinking a soy milk supplement. She had tried all the milk based supplements such as Ensure, but these all make her nauseous. We were a little concerned about the soy since some studies discourage the use of this for breast cancer patients but Dr. Laheru doesn't think it's a problem. Update: CA 19-9 is within the normal range at 32!

Research Updates

It looks like Dr. Picozzi and Dr. Laheru have been busy. A study using a variant of Picozzi's protocol (Gemcitabine instead of 5FU, with Cisplatin and Interferon) has shown very good results for adjuvant therapy (44% 4-year OS). Laheru has also published updated results that show a median survival of 26 months from the phase II study of the Hopkins vaccine. I think this wasn't as promising as I was hoping (although I'm not sure I understand the numbers fully) but it still seems to be significant.

Vacation

We finally convinced our parents to go on a proper vacation. They were always too worried that my mother wouldn't enjoy herself because of her lack of energy and frequent stomach/eating issues. We kept insisting that she could keep her same relaxed routine even when they were on vacation. Well, they ended up really enjoying themselves in Hawaii and Las Vegas (over their anniversary). Hopefully, they will now begin to plan and take more trips.

Rest in Peace Judith

It's a sad day as we heard our friend Judith passed away yesterday.

CT Scan and Blood Test Results

After another nerve-wrecking day of testing (CT and blood test), we were thankfully told that everything still looks fairly normal. They did see a small area of fluid collection on the CT scan that grew from January. They believe that this is a pseudocyst or a poorly defined loop of adjacent bowel. Dr. Laheru does not seem to concerned about it and says we should just monitor it. Her CA 19-9 results came out at 35 which is still in the normal range. My mother was also able to finally have her mediport removed. Her next set of tests and round of vaccine injections will be in September.

Second Vaccine Round

The first set of vaccine injections wasn't too bad. My mother had hard swelling around the sites and experienced fatigue for a few weeks. She went for her second round on February 26 and has had even less side effects this time. I do hope that the vaccine is effective however. Overall, her condition appears to be improving and we believe she should be able to come out to visit California after her third round in March to attend my son's 2nd birthday. We are definitely looking forward to their visit.

Laheru's Vaccine Trial

After Christmas, we set to work trying to get my mother enrolled in Laheru's GVAX vaccine trial. Hopkins now has a trial for patients who have finished their chemotherapy regimen by at least one month. This is another phase II trial that will accept up to 60 patients. The coordinator mentioned that they expect it to close around the summer time.

Laheru just released updated results from the first phase II trial for the vaccine. About 60 patients at Hopkins were given the vaccine shortly after surgery and concurrently with chemotherapy. The 2 year results that were released a few years ago seemed very promising. The updated results don't follow the same stellar trend but they still seem to show significantly better results than just standard treatment alone: 26 months vs. 18 months median survival.

To enroll in the trial, you need to have a clean CT scan and your blood test numbers need to be relatively normal. The first time we tried, our mother's neutrophil count was too low. The next week that we tried, her liver AAT count was abnormally high - around 300. My mother had been taking the antibiotic Ciprofloxacin which was prescribed in November because of her chronic fevers. The Cipro worked wonders on her fever, so she was advised to continue taking it for several months. It turns out that Cipro might be harmful on your liver. She stopped taking it and 2 weeks later her liver counts were normal again. So we finally were able to get into the study.

The study involves getting a series of injections of the GVAX vaccine. The injections are given monthly for 3 months and then every 6 months. The first treatment involves getting 6 injections of GVAX, a tetanus shot and having a skin biopsy done. For the first week, you need to go in every day for bloodwork. My mother had her first treatment yesterday. The side effects have been fairly mild - just some swelling on the injection sites and she seems somewhat tired. Nothing like chemotherapy.