Friends and Family,
The wild ride continues. After my final chemo round, Genevieve and I got lab results which showed increased fluid in my lungs and new fluid around my heart. Our hopes for me to buy more time by staying on ramucirumab alone for the next 6-12 months went out the window. But a parachute arrived just as it was time to jump out of the plane.
Dr. Sanborn had requested that I receive patritumab duruxtecan, a HER3 drug, through the Expanded Access (compassionate use) program. She made the request eighteen weeks earlier and approval came through just when I needed it. I had to wait two more weeks for the drug to arrive, then started it two weeks ago. Had approval come a little later, I couldn’t have waited. I would have had to start on a less promising early phase clinical trial, the only thing left on the board that I qualify for at this stage. How lucky can we get!
Even though it’s only been two weeks I already have less edema in my legs. The cankles are gone, and now it doesn’t look like every one of my piggies went to market - and ate the market.
The other part that has gone well has been my jaw. The antibiotics are working well. The pain is gone, and I can open my mouth wide enough to eat a sandwich now. It beats the liquid diet! I’m still dealing with antibiotic side effects (nausea and diarrhea), but even that has improved in the past few days. I can’t claim to look or be healthy yet – an elderly woman with a walker that had a chair attached offered me her chair while standing in line at the pharmacy - but I’m getting closer. Spring is just around the corner and I’m starting to think about gardening again. That’s a far cry from a few weeks ago when I couldn’t dream any bigger than getting off pain meds and getting a fork in my mouth.
Not my garden! This is a dream, remember?
Hoping my updates will remain cheery for a while!
Love,
Dann