Well on the 20th January I started the MK3475 immunotherapy trial. Many of you wn't know what thsi is so I will try and expalin in a nutshell.
It is a new treatment for people with advanced lung cancer and at the moment is only available through clinical trials. I am on a phase 1 clinical trial which means it is an experimental drug and everyone on the trial will get it. This trial is to see a/ if it works b/ what side effects it will have.
To qualify for the trial they had to get a biopsy of my tumour to see if i tested positive for the PDL-1 markers (programmed death ligand) basically if you have this, it stops your immune system from fighting the cancer and therefore cancer will develop and progress. The trial drug aims to reset the balance and reinsore the body's natural defences to fight and kill the cancer.
These drugs were first used on patients with malignant melanoma - they are still in trial phase but should be licenced very soon - I have been speaking to one such patient, she first had the melanoma in 2005, it returned in 2010 with metasasis to both lungs. They immediately put this lady on the anti-PDL-1 trial and within 12 weeks there was no sign of cancer in her body! This was now over 2 years ago! She still has the infusions every 3 weeks but...how fantastic is that. She is however one of the 1 :10 people who have been complete responders. 41- 51% of patients saw significant tumour shrinkage.
This drug is now beig used for lung cancer patients like myself however the response so far has been around 24%. You may nothing that sounds very much but when you look at the next option which would have been Docetaxol with a response rate of around 9% it' bloody fantastic!
So far I have had 2 infusions, side effects???/so far there haven't been any! I get a san on 24th March to see if it's working (the day before 4th infusion) Do I think it's working? I don't want to tempt fate but before Christmas and leading up to the day I started the trial my cough had been getting pretty bad, with me literally not being able to speak 3 words without me coughing really bad as the day went on...Now....it has been getting considerably better, I am still coughing a bit but I can hold a conversation no problem. The scan will be interesting!
In January I was speaking at the British Thoracic Oncology Conference in Dublin. I was speaking at the Astra Zeneca symposium about the targeted therapy drug Iressa. I was talking about 'a patient' and how well she had done, the audience were shocked when I announced at the end that 'I' was the patient. the feedback has been fantastic! Dublin it's self was wet and cold, didn't stop us exploring, having cocktails and getting lost!
I even found a haberdashery and bought some fabric for a new project I am starting.
The other big achievement is I have lost the weight I put on whilst having the chemo! I had ballooned to 11 stone! I'm now what I was just before diagnosis. No pics as yet as I want to loose a bit more before the wedding!
At the moment I am so busy, I have hospital every 3 weeks and appts can be 2-3 consecutive day's. I also have the next Craft Carnival on the 22nd March which I have organised again raising funds for Roy Castle - I do daily promotions on Facebook of the event and the stall holders. I now have an appointment with our local MP - Jeremy Lefoy- to discuss how he can help me with my Lung Cancer awareness campaign :). I can't seem to find time to make all the things I want to make (hobbies).
To end .... my fiends and myself went to an 80's night to support another friend - Heidi- who is running the London Marathon for Roy Castle in March. It was so much fun and I danced for about 4 hours non stop without coughing once and then walked 40 minutes to get home at the end of the night!
It was so much fun I may now have to organise an 80's night on a bit bigger scale!
