Good news!

Hi friends, Just a quick update. It has been a busy week or so. I wanted to let you all know that although I was rejected from the clinical trial a couple of weeks ago...I sent an impassioned e-mail to the coordinator. It included a link to the news story that Kelly Eckerman did on me, as well as some pictures of me. One picture was of Morgan and me...it was pretty sweet.

I wanted to help them understand that I am not just a number, but a person. And that for the most part...I have done great on medicines/surgeries/etc. There has really only been one medicine that caused me problems and that was one that we did earlier this year for a couple of months. And, it is not similar to the clinical trial drug, in any way.

So, to make a long story short, it worked! Somehow, I got myself in the clinical trial. Though my doctors pushed so hard for me to get in, it was my personal e-mail that did it. The trial coordinator was amazing and responded to me immediately. He said that he would do his best to get me in and that his colleagues would also.

Then, we heard from the coordinator from Jefferson City later in the day. She said we got approval! They were ecstatic. So, Michael and I had to run down to Jeff City, MO on Friday morning to redo my scans...everything has to be done in a two-week window for these trials so my scans had expired. We did that, though, and then headed home.

The doctor has looked at the CT scans and my residual tumors are not really growing, which is also good news. I am certain that this new medicine will shrink these tumors even more and push me into a continued stable state. The neat thing about the drug is that it has the power of a chemotherapy, but it only targets cancer cells.

They will also have me do scans and reports about every six weeks so I will be monitored heavily, which is nice. Like I said, I am a responder. I do well with these types of drugs and I have no doubt that I will do well on this medicine. I am thankful, so grateful that they have let me in. I am appreciative of the opportunity to share my experiences...but, first and foremost, to keep myself healthy.

Blessings,
Lolo