Key Posts

The TIL Trial from a patient's perspective. 

Clinical Trial Resources in this post.

Jan 2017: Follow-up #10 and Interview with Joan Lunden and Dr. Steven Rosenberg. Includes links to newspaper articles.

Aug 2016: Follow-up #8

July 2016: Cell therapy explained. One tumor's secret escape plan.  here

May 2016:  Follow-up #7.

Apr. 2016:  She is N.E.D. for the very first time.

Mar. 2016:  Follow-up #6. 46% shrinkage, BUT new growth.

Jan. 2016:  Follow-up #5.  PARTIAL RESPONSE confirmed.  46% shrinkage. Includes a CT image of a dead tumor.

Nov. 23/24, 2015:  Follow-up #4 at NIH.  30% shrinkage compared to baseline. Includes CT image of a tumor as it goes from alive to dead, dead, all the way dead.

Oct. 19/20, 2015:  Follow-up #3 at NIH.  Tumors shrunk 27% compared to baseline. This post also contains links to two of Dr. Rosenberg's presentations on TIL therapy.

Sept. 14/15, 2015:  Follow-up #2 at NIH.  Tumors show 25% shrinkage by RECIST criteria.

Sept. 3, 2015:  Two years since diagnosis. CLINICAL TRIAL RESOURCES

Aug. 20, 2015:  Chemo port is removed.

Aug. 10/11, 2015:  First follow-up at NIH.  Tumors shrunk by 18%

Jun. 22: Apheresis.  Collecting white blood cells to facilitate the TIL treatment.

Jun. 21 to Jul. 14, 2015:  Inpatient at NIH for TIL trial participation.  begin here

June 21: Renogram to test kidney function.

May: Thoughts on leaving my kids to be inpatient. Holding Pattern

Apr. 1, 2015:  Lung wedge surgery on left lung to harvest tumor(s) for the TIL trial.  2-day hospital stay (preceded by apheresis and a bunch of scans).

Mar. 19, 2015:  CT and meet attending at NIH.  Attending recommends staying off chemo in the interim between surgery and TIL treatment.

Feb. 23, 2015:  NIH requests an in-person screening visit.

Feb 2015: Don't Give Up! Try 3

Feb 2015:  Try Again, and Xeloda is $$$ Try 2. 

Jan. 2015 First Rejection: The Size of a Mustard Seed.

Dec. 19, 2014:  My 49th birthday.  I called the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, MD to find out about the TIL trial.

Dec. 12, 2014:  Lung wedge surgery to biopsy a lung nodule.  Colon cancer metastasized to lungs confirmed.  Now stage IV.  Terminal diagnosis.

Winter 2014:  Beware the Flying Wildebeest (also: Treatment #5 of FOLFOX)

Nov. 12, 2014:  PET #3.  Hypermetabolic activity seen in 5 of 8 pulmonary nodules.  uh-oh.

Oct. 28, 2014:  Needle Biopsy performed on left lung.  No useful information.  Spleen biopsied by accident (ow! ow! ow!) Needle Biopsy Part 2

Sep. 22, 2014:  Reading the CT for ourselves. Our Rosetta Stone (path. report).

June - July 2014:  Six weeks radiation to suture line on bladder.

Apr. 2, 2014:  PET scan #2  No uptake of FDG

More Reasons to Despise Chemo

Oct. 2013: A Treatment (chemo #3) In Which I have a conversation with my liver.

Neupogen is so very painful.

Post-Surgical Visit. Sleen doesn't handle stitch-removal well.

Oct. 13, 2013: Funny Story about an Iron Infusion


Sep. 30, 2013: First FOLFOX treatment. Oxaliplatin is weird.

Sep. 30, 2013 to Mar. 3, 2014:  FOLFOX (12 treatments spanning 24 weeks)

Sep. 28, 2013:  MRI #1

Sep. 26, 2013: Sleen is very, very wobbly.

Sep. 25, 2013:  Surgery to place a medi-port.  PET scan #1

Sep. 5, 2013:  Surgery to remove tumor, 21 lymph nodes (17 cancerous), and an artery.  Primary tumor infiltrated urinary bladder.  20% of bladder removed.  Five-day hospital stay.  Stage IIIC colon cancer.

Sep. 3, 2013:  The Riot Starts:  Colonoscopy halted due to discovery of a colonic tumor.

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