Update on Marissa (from Sean)

I wanted to post an update on Marissa. As you probably know from following Marissa's previous posts, the Doxil was not working well as indicated by her CA125 and a CT scan at the beginning of the year, so she switched in January to a chemo drug that she had previously had back in 2006 called Taxol. Instead of receiving it in high doses like she did in 2006, she instead received it weekly in a lower dose (it attacks the cancer in a different way when dosed in lower). We hoped that this was working but unfortunately we learned two weeks ago that it was most likely not working as the cancer marker, CA125, had risen 1700 points while on Taxol. The doctor wanted to go through with two more weeks of Taxol to see if the CA125 showed any further response. We got our answer last week though because Marissa unfortunately developed a partial bowel obstruction from tumors that caused vomiting and she could not eat. As a result she was admitted to the hospital this past Friday thru Monday for treatment for dehydration, as well as for observation, and they did not allow her to eat anything to rest the bowel.

She arrived home from the hospital Monday evening and was allowed to start a "soft food" diet. Things seemed to be going well until Tuesday evening when she once again vomited, so we cut back to a clear diet to let things try to calm down again. Since then she has been feeling better and is back on a soft diet again as of today, so we hope that the partial bowel obstructions have started to let up.

While in the hospital they ran another CT scan and it did indicate that the cancer has progressed, so instead of doing more Taxol, we made the decision today in our visit with Dr. Yamada to switch to a different chemo drug that she has not had had before called Gemcitabine (trade name is Gemzar if you are interested). She will receive this two weeks on and two weeks off, and it will take about a month to determine if it has any effect.

As for clinical trials, this is still on the table but not available now, nor is it a good time to go there at the moment. We did find a couple open PARP slots over the past few weeks but none of them are available to Marissa due to toxicity given the number of previous regimens she has been through. She still is on the waiting list for a PARP trial at University of Wisconsin, but a slot will not open up until May or June at the earliest. None of these are an option at the moment anyway because of the partial bowel obstruction. The PARP trials are oral and until the bowel obstruction is resolved, she can't be on oral meds.

That is the current status to date. Either Marissa or I will try to update the blog more often so you are kept in the loop on Marissa's status.

Take care,
Sean