starting clinical trial rad001 with avastin

karen1951
karen1951 Member Posts: 103
in Ovarian Cancer #1
well, i finally switched doctors and am already feeling much more positive with it. my previous oncologist told me the latest petscan showed progression even though my ca125 went from 1384 to 750 in a 2 week period. i tried to make the argument that the gemzar ive been on since january must have been doing something for the marker to fall so significantly, but he want adamant and said either it works or doesn't work....no in between. my only option left was the clinical trial. so since the clinical trial is only offered at another hospital, i have been going thru the screening process there. the gyn/onc i'm seeing now looked at my petscan and said there's a couple more very small tumors and at best, he felt the cancer was stable. now i find out the latest ca125 has dropped another 300 points to 450! obviously, the gemzar WAS working. now i face the dilemna of "do i stay with the gemzar or go with the clinical trial?" this new doctor said to go with the clinical trial since they've had great results with it, and the enrollment is ending soon. he said i can always go back to gemzar.
rad001 is an anticancer drug that may inhibit or slow tumor growth...it's made by Novartis, and has been approved by the FDA for patients with advanced kidney cancer...so far it has not been approved for ovarian. i will take a rad001 pill every day and every 2 weeks i will be receiving avastin by IV infusion. i'll keep you posted how the trial goes. all the best to all you girls.....xoxo..karen

Comments

  • Cafewoman53
    Cafewoman53 Member Posts: 735 Member
    #2
    Good luck Karen!
    I'm glad the Gemzar was working but a clinical trial is good too. Like he said you can go back to the Gemzar if you need to. I think Avastin is good but I believe it will work better teamed up with another drug. Wouldn't it be great if this trial was the one that will knock this cancer on it's ****? Keep us posted, I am crossing my fingers for you.
    Colleen
  • Mwee
    Mwee Member Posts: 1,338
    #3
    Ditto!!
    Best of luck with the clinical trial drug! Great to hear that your counts dropped another 300 points and that you have a new and more supportive doctor.
    (((HUGS))) Maria
  • LoveButterflies
    LoveButterflies Member Posts: 74
    #4
    That's great Karen! I'm
    That's great Karen! I'm glad you're feeling more confident with this new doctor and clinical trial. I think you're right, the gemzar must have been working for your numbers to continue dropping like that.

    Best of luck and my prayers are with you!

    Carmen
  • JoWin615
    JoWin615 Member Posts: 150 Member
    #5
    Confidence
    in your medical team is SO important. I sense that you are much more hopeful now, and that is great! Thanks for keeping us up to date.

    Cheers,
    Jo
  • carolenk
    carolenk Member Posts: 907 Member
    #6
    JoWin615 said:

    Confidence
    in your medical team is SO important. I sense that you are much more hopeful now, and that is great! Thanks for keeping us up to date.

    Cheers,
    Jo

    I agree that you could
    I agree that you could always go back to Gemzar later if the clinical trial doesn't work out for you. Good luck!
  • Tina Brown
    Tina Brown Member Posts: 1,036 Member
    #7
    Good news at last :)
    These numbers are fantastic and very encouraging Karen. I am so pleased this has happened. I think sometimes the chemo is slow working and takes a while for it to show in the numbers. Good luck with whatever you decide to do treatment wise.

    Tina

Discussion Boards