Plan B -- Bye-Bye, Study Drug!

If you are following the chronology via the archives, you know that I have a plan.

Plan B in my cancer treatment is STOPPING the oral chemo study drug (Alisertib) that I have been taking for 20 months. I tried to just leave the study altogether, but the study coordinator asked if I could stay on as part of the study, while no longer taking the drug. I agreed to this. Because I was stopping their drug, they insisted that I undergo CT and Bone scans within 7 days. So I had a CT scan this morning. Bone will be in a few days.

Why have I gone off the study drug? The primary reason is that beginning last February, my bowels began mal-functioning. I had the "loosey-goosies" or the big D (you know what I'm talking about, right?) beginning at that time and continuing to the present. Both the study people and my oncologist felt that this was probably due to the study drug, which is orally administered, and not the IV chemo.

And, in essence, I got tired of being a lab-rat. I ran into horrific billing issues with the scans that were administered early on in the study; in fact, those issues are still not resolved. I won't even go into that mess; it's too agonizing.

So I did agree to stay on the study (but not the drug) because they said that it would help them determine if, indeed, the bowel issues were due to their drug instead of the IV chemo. Part of any study for a new drug is determining what side effects are to be expected. You know those, right? That list of horrendous things that can happen to you that they list in those pharma ads on TV?

I will remain on the IV chemo for a while to see if the bowel problems will right themselves. Problem is, this new keto diet is pretty rough on the intestinal tract; it requires eating a LOT of raw veggies and greens and this, of course, tends to exacerbate poop problems. I am hoping that, as my body becomes more accustomed to the new diet, these issues will go away.

So, those who have been following for a while know that this sudden flurry of postings is rare, yes? That's because I have decided to stop being a passive guinea pig and start being pro-active! So the news bulletins will come with more frequency. If you want to receive email alerts when I add a new post, you can do so at the actual blog website, at the VERY bottom; there is a place there to sign up for email alerts. The site is http://betsyrlt.blogspot.com