Janet's blog

Jitteriness continued and with good cause it turns out. The scan I had on 9 September shows a couple (or three?) small nodules but also a 5cm mass in my lower abdomen which is causing the bowel symptoms. Dr M explains this as the olaparib keeping a lid on things relapsing in a widespread way but that some cells have become olaparib resistant. This marks the end of the ICON9 trial for me. It feels like a bit of a rushed consultation but it looks like I have two choices: 1. Go onto the next line of chemotherapy which would be carboplatin (again) plus  gemcitabine - a three -weekly regimen but with an extra infusion of gemcitabine in the middle of the cycle, meaning something every 10 days; or 2. Enter a Phase 2A trial which would mean going back on olaparib plus a nanoparticle, being trialled by Ellipses Pharma, as yet unlicensed and known only as EP0057. As I understand it,  the nanoparticle is a complex sugar molecule wrapped round a chemotherapy agent called camptothecin whic...

 Back in the Cancer Centre for monthly check up but a bit less sanguine than usual. Wondering if I'm back in the bum zone. Hoping it's all down to the soft fruit season but  unconvinced. The soft fruit list has been quite extensive in the last month or so with strawberries (albeit bit of a poor show) segueing into summer raspberries, blueberries, and now autumn raspberries,  more blueberries,  plums,  greengages and figs. ..... Well, the Ca 125 was only up by 1, which was reassuring for a while and definitely made the long-awaited days in the Lake District more enjoyable but I wasn't entirely convinced. Someone from HOPE Course also having an anxious period