I am feeling guilty for not posting sooner, but we have been in the heat of it. Jenna started to get really sick on the ipi trial, and we were thinking that maybe it was a good thing, but her disease continued to grow and spead. She had bumps coming up everywhere…neck, chest, back, abdomen, even in the muscles of her arms and legs. We knew we were losing ground quickly. We had been pursuing MD Anderson for a MEK combo trial (since she responded so well to the MEK) for several months, and finally they were able to get her a spot in the BRAF/MEK trial…and none too
I am feeling guilty for not posting sooner, but we have been in the heat of it. Jenna started to get really sick on the ipi trial, and we were thinking that maybe it was a good thing, but her disease continued to grow and spead. She had bumps coming up everywhere…neck, chest, back, abdomen, even in the muscles of her arms and legs. We knew we were losing ground quickly. We had been pursuing MD Anderson for a MEK combo trial (since she responded so well to the MEK) for several months, and finally they were able to get her a spot in the BRAF/MEK trial…and none too soon. It was difficult just traveling to get there. We have been here for 2 weeks now and she started treatment one week ago today…Amazing!…her lumps are melting away, and she is feeling much better. The CT scan that she had last week prior to starting was devastating. Pretty much the only place she didn't have disease was her spleen. She will not be scanned again for 2 months, but as we watch her visible disease fade, and she continues to feel better, we are encouraged to believe that internally she is responding well too.
Thank you to all of you who have been praying for, Jenna. It has carried us through some real lows to a place where we have hope for healing again.
We are scheduled to go home tomorrw, and are looking forward to getting some "normalcy".
Happy in Houston!
Lauren (mom to Jenna)
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