We saw the oncologist in May, but Karen had just gotten stitches, so the oncologist said she wasn't ready for more chemo. He did however say that when she was ready, there were a few clinical trials we might be interested in. We saw the oncologist again in June, a month later, but this time it was Karen who said she wasn't ready. We set things up to start a clinical trial in July, but when July rolled around and we saw the oncologist, we found out the trial had been put on hold. So we had to find another one. That trial starts today.
Both trials involve "activating" the immune system. This one in particular, studying recombinant super‑compound interferon (rSIFN‑co), hopes to enhance the immune response to cancer cells by activating certain white blood cells. After all we've been through, it seems obvious to us that this type of approach will be the future of cancer treatment. There's already been some amazing breakthroughs with other types of cancer using such approaches. It's just such a natural approach to fighting cancer.
This trial is only in phase 1. That means they are evaluating the safety and identifying the side effects of the treatment, all while trying to determine a safe dosage range. As such, we had to have a ton of tests done ahead of time, checking everything from Karen's eyes to her heart. We have 7 hours of observation today following the injection, with more blood tests throughout the day. Then there's more testing in 24 and then 48 hours. If all is good after the testing on Wednesday, there's another injection followed by 2 hours of observation. This will continue Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. It sounds like the observation period will continue to decrease over time as they are more comfortable that Karen won't have an extreme reaction.
