Mom’s MRI on October 9th at Duke was stable, so that was the good news!
Unfortunately she had some side effects from the Gleevec/Hydroxyurea drug combination she was given for the tumor growth she experienced in October. This caused the doctors to discontinue that course of treatment, and recommend a clinical trial of CPT-11 and Avastin. CPT-11 is a chemo she was on before as part of the other clinical trial she was on at Duke. Avastin is an anti-angiogenic drug approved for lung and colon cancer that has shown some very promising results in brain tumors when combined with CPT-11. She will have to be at Duke for a full week for the first treatment and MRI’s (probably in two weeks), and then have treatments by IV every 2 weeks at home. She will have to go back to Duke every 6 weeks for an MRI. Dr. Vredenburgh at Duke said he feels this is the best shot at getting rid of the cancer now.
Her legs have become weak, causing her to fall several times. This is likely due to the prolonged use of the steroid they give for swelling in the brain. She is using a walker in the home and a wheelchair when going out. Home health has come in and started physical therapy and speech therapy that will hopefully help to prevent things like that from happening again.
Unfortunately she had some side effects from the Gleevec/Hydroxyurea drug combination she was given for the tumor growth she experienced in October. This caused the doctors to discontinue that course of treatment, and recommend a clinical trial of CPT-11 and Avastin. CPT-11 is a chemo she was on before as part of the other clinical trial she was on at Duke. Avastin is an anti-angiogenic drug approved for lung and colon cancer that has shown some very promising results in brain tumors when combined with CPT-11. She will have to be at Duke for a full week for the first treatment and MRI’s (probably in two weeks), and then have treatments by IV every 2 weeks at home. She will have to go back to Duke every 6 weeks for an MRI. Dr. Vredenburgh at Duke said he feels this is the best shot at getting rid of the cancer now.
Her legs have become weak, causing her to fall several times. This is likely due to the prolonged use of the steroid they give for swelling in the brain. She is using a walker in the home and a wheelchair when going out. Home health has come in and started physical therapy and speech therapy that will hopefully help to prevent things like that from happening again.
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