Cleveland Clinic - Phase 1 Drug Trials

Well, after arriving in Cleveland at 9:25a, parking the car and walking to the Taussig Cancer Center, I checked in at the Registration Desk on the 2nd Floor and was escorted back to the Exam Room by a Nurse. After getting the preliminary vitals out of the way Carmen and I sat in the Room for a good 20 minutes, but the Advance Nurse came in to apologize and advise that she was going through the records that had been faxed over to them.

So we sat for another 10 minutes, then she came in and started taking the family history of both my Parents and of my immediate Family, after getting through this, which was boring as heck; since the Advance Nurse was all business and was not too receptive to my joking around. The 2 questions that she asked me that made me chuckle pretty good where the usual psych questions.
Nurse: "Have you thought about killing yourself? Have you thought about harming others?"
My response to both was these where: "That's crazy, I'm not that far left of center."
The other psych question she asked
Nurse: "Are you depressed?"
My response was: "Yes!"
Nurse: "How long have you been depressed?"
Me: "Since about May 2007, when I was diagnosed!"
Nurse:"Have you discussed this with any Doctors, before today?"
Me: "No!" Was my response."
Nurse:"Why did you tell me this today? Because I asked you?" Was her follow up.
Me: "Yes!, since no one really asked me that" was my repose.
Nurse: "Thank you, for your honesty with this." was the Nurse's comment to me.

At this point her demeanor didn't change, but she continued on with the Q&A and then thanked me for answering the 1001 questions and steps out to "consult" with Dr. Pelley. Dr Pelley arrives in the Exam Room with an Exchange Doctor from Brazil in tow, after the introductions, Dr. Pelley proceeds to clarify a couple of the answers I gave to the Questions. After the clarification, he proceeds to do the usual examination of me and declares that I seem to be in pretty good health and not really suffering from the nodules in my lungs. He then discusses the 3 Phases of a Drug Trial and explains what each one is and how it is handled. He started with Phase 3 and worked his way to Phase 1. This is when he discussed the 2 Drug Trials that are ongoing and explained them. Both of these Trials are end stage Phase 2 and they each offer different options.

The First Drug Trial is one that would require me to take 2 pills a day, then have blood work drawn frequently through out the course of the trial. This would mean that I would have to be traveling back and forth to Cleveland for the Lab Work to be down.

The Second Drug Trial is a vaccine, where they would inject me with a Virus and monitor me for an entire day to see how I reacted. Then after that I would be required to return to the Clinic at 3 days, then 4 days and finally 5 days; for the first week. After that it would be 7 days, 23 days and finally 56 days, with a CT Scan being done. This one appleaed to me since it would require me to be at the Clinic for 2 full days, once at the start and once at the end. The Cost of the Clinical Drugs and the CT Scan would be billed to the Drug Company and everything else would be billed to my insurance.

Dr. Pelley did mention that I might want to investigate University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, Mi or Karmanos Cancer Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mi. I told Dr. Pelley that I was suppose to go there, but they couldn't get me in quickly enough for my Chemotherapist. Dr. Pelley said that he had a colleague that worked at the Karmanos Institute and that he would contact his office for me,if I desired, and see what they have available for Drug Trials, since these 2 Universities may have other Trials that would possibly benefit me better. I decided that I wanted to try Karmoanos, since it is only about 30 minutes away in Detroit, Mi., so Dr. Pelley said that he make the arrangements for me.

We ended walking out of the Taussig Cancer at Noon and proceeded to drive back to Toledo. The travel time to Cleveland was good, since we left the house this morning at 6:53a, stopped and got Gas and some munchies and cash for the Toll Road and arrived at the Cleveland Clinic at 9:25a and my appointment was at 10a.

Now the wait for the call for my visit to Karmanos comes to play. In the mean time I've got an appointment with my Chemotherapist, Dr. Schaefer, on Friday morning to discuss what was said in Cleveland and see what I has to suggest about Karmanos. So until then,my life returns to the routine of Work and home for now.

Depression and Apprehension

Well, this has been a week of depression and apprehension for me. I've been waking up depressed in the mornings and once I get to work I start to go through the usual job routine, then sometime after lunch I start to feel apprehensive about going to Cleveland Clinic and what they will actually tell me.

I've been dreading this, since I've been thinking too much about the trip and what they're going to do for further testing or what game plan I'm going to follow. If I get into any drug or treatment trials, then I will most definitely be checking into doing them here in Toledo, since traveling back and forth will not be a very viable situation for me.

With the weather finally starting to warm up I've noticed again, that the neropathy in my hands and feet his lessening up a little, but with it still being cold in the monrings when I go to work, it still reminds me of the downside. I do try to carefully walk so that I trip and break something, since this would really piss me off if I broke an arm or leg and have to deal with that on top of everything else.

Anyhow, more on the personal side, Carmen and I cultivate the patch in the front yard last Saturday and she planted a few ferns along the front of the house. She also did more work on the flower garden area yesterday and is planning on planting some flower and I think vegtables when the weather stays warm enough for them to be planted.

Cleveland Clinic and Oncology Radialogy Visit

Weeellll,

It looks like Cleveland Clinic will be getting my visitation on 27 April 2009. SO, it will be a day of unknown exams and consultations with unknown number of Doctors. Good thing that I have taken the day off from work and I'm getting paid for it to boot :) My Chemotherapy Treatments have stopped at this point and I am a little concerned with this, but trust Dr. Schaefer's expertise here.

I saw that Physician Assistance at the Oncology Radiology Office and I saw the last PET Scan and she agreed with the report and it seems that the largest lesion grew just 2 cm from 2.2cm to 4.2cm. This lesion (nodule) is located in the righ lung base posterdoermedialy. I will be making backup copies of, in case they get "misplaced" by any medical personnel and all I have to do it bring up the copies and burn them again. Yes, I know to err is human, to really mess things up using a computer adds to the problem, LOL.

Diarrhea is still on my mind, since I've been dealing with this a little more in the past weeks. Usually, I get a loose stool and it clears up, but lately it has been diarrhea, which I've been able to control with the combination of Paregoric and Imodium Tablets; plus watching what I eat seems to be helping out. Up until today I've been doing pretty good, but of coarse I've had a re-occurrence and now I'm wondering what the heck is causing this to happen, I'm not going to buy into the line of diagnosis that it is viral, since this is not be the root of this tonight. Monitoring myself and the progress of the diarrhea will help me to overcome the problem and get it under control again.

Well, I'm getting tired and I've provided a lot of information already for everyone to digest, so I'll end this here and see what happens in the coming days and weeks.

PET Scan, Chemotherapy and Cleveland Clinic

Ok, so I've taken the last week or so off from here. I decided a little vacation would be good for me to get may writing skills a rest for a little bit.

Yesterday, I had another PET Scan to follow up on the Chemotherapy. While I was there I asked the Technician when the last PET Scan was and she said that I had the last one in November 2008, so this one was about do. While I was there I decided to step into the Chemotherapist's Office to see about talking with Dr. Schaefer or the Nurse Practioner, since I've been battling diarrhea this week and my appointment to see Dr. Schafer wasn't until next week. Well, fortune smiled and I was able to get in today and I took the appointment.

Well, I saw Doc Schaefer this morning and he had the results of the PET Scan and they turn out to be worse then I had expected. Seems that teh Lesions in my Lungs are not responding too well to the Chemotherapy and since I've been disagnosised as positve for the Kras Gene, which will not respond well to Eurbatux treatment, Doc Schaefer is at a cross road here and has scheduled and appointment for me to see Dr. Rober Pelley, at the Cleveland Clinic, to get his opinion on what treatment would work best for me. I see Dr. Pelley on April 27th at 10am and see what he has to say about this whole shabang!!!

My spirits have been positive all along and I also have an appointment to see the Physician Assistant from Dr. Rubin's Office, the Oncology Radiaologist, to see what they have to say about the PET Scan results, since I want to see what they have to say. Do they agree or disagree? Can they offer possible treatment plans? This is to be seen next week. More to come on this later.

In the meantime Easter is upon us again and plans have been kicked into High Gear to prep for Dinner on Sunday and since I have to work, dinner will be consumed after I get home. We have the Ham, Potatoes and Dinner Rolls under control for the main course, but I am not sure what Carmen has in store for Desert, but I know whatever she comes up with will be greatly approeciated and consumed with smiles on everyones face. :)

For now I end this and wait for the coming week to play itself out and see what happens. Hope that everyone's Easter is enjoyable and carried out in the tradition that we each know well. Cheers! Tim