What is a Hedgehog Anyway?

Feeling much, much better yesterday, I was out on the bike and 10 miles into my ride, I receive a phone call telling me that I have been preliminarily qualified to be in the Hedgehog Pathway Inhibitor Clinical Trial Study!

I have to be in complete remission from a second or third recurrence in order to qualify completely. I have to wait for the results of CAT scans and blood work and will speak to the docs on June 29th to be completely accepted.

I was not qualified for the increasingly popular PARP Inhibitor Clinical Trial, because I did not have a 50% reduction in CA-125 levels....partly because my CA-125 never went up that high! This was not totally unexpected. I already knew that that was one of the criteria of the study. I feel that the Hedgehog study is a much better fit for me.

Why is it called The Hedgehog Inhibitor? Good question! It will be one of the first questions that I ask! Of course, I can't get into a trial that has a more glamorous name or one that carries a little more cache than Hedgehog!

I am still doing research trying to figure out exactly what this drug does and why it is called Hedgehog Inhibitor. So far, please forgive my ignorance in science matters, I have gleaned from various websites that the hedgehog pathway was named for a polypeptide ligand (still trying to figure out why name it after a hedgehog) and that hedgehog pathways were considered more important in the embryonic stage of life. But now, these pathways are being looked at for their role in the growth of adult stem cells . If these pathways get confused signals they will grow abnormally, resulting in certain types of cancer, ovarian being one of them.

Not bad for an English major! Genentech has an awesome animation of this process, but no audio to go with it! Very frustrating for the video person in me....I need pictures and sound!

I am sure that I will learn more as time goes on. This is very exciting news for me. I feel that if I actually get the drug...remember this is a double blind, randomized clinical trial, it may actually save my life...from ovarian cancer, anyway!

P.S. Did you know that there is a Sonic Hedgehog Pathway? Does anybody remember Sonic the Hedgehog video game? Weird.

Ladies at Lunch

I was feeling much better last Thursday afternoon when I met Ann for lunch at Tomasso's in Southborough. As always, Ann is wonderful company, a good friend and as member of the Young Adults with Cancer Support Group (going on 20 years now!) she is great source of support and understanding. Oh! By the way, the food was good too! I even wore my wig, which now has me thinking that I don't like it too much. I will have to wear it all the time when I go back to work in September.

I awoke about 1:30 am Friday morning with heart palpitations. It is a very uncomfortable feeling of always being extremely anxious or the physical feeling that you get in chest after a near miss in your car. This happened to me the last time that I did chemo. I know that it is from anemia or dehydration, but knowing what is causing it doesn't stop it! It is a very annoying condtion and it not only kept me up most the night, but continued throughout the day on Friday, putting me in a foul mood.

When I woke on Sauturday morning, the palpations had stopped. I did not go out on my bike until the afternoon. I did not want to aggravate my body. About 4 miles into my ride, I realized that perhaps this wasn't the smartest thing that I have ever done. Well, I made it home, palapations at bay, but they would return with a vengeance on Sunday morning.

It's Monday morning and they seem to be gone now. Hopefully they will stay gone. The feeling of always being anxious is pretty common for a cancer patient, but usually my anxiety doesn't have this physical component. The palpations are a physical symptom of underlying anemia or dehydration and I understand it, but it feels terrible and it wears me out!

Hopefully today will be palpation free!
Still waiting to hear about Hedge Hog Clinical Trials!

Cave Dweller : Step Into the Light!

I have had a revelation! Chemotherapy is like childbirth. You have a memory of it, but it is not a reliable memory! It is a faulty memory, the really bad parts slip away, so that you are able to go through it again, willingly!

It has taken me four treatments to finally remember how the effects chemotherapy become cumulative over time. And now I remember!

My body staged a coup and it has won.

After big red puffy face disappeared and the effects of the dec wore off, I sank helplessly, miserably into the world of fatigue, bone/muscle pain, headache, dizziness and a lingering nausea. I really need to be living in a cave during this time. I am not fit for interaction with other human beings.

As any good cave dweller knows, it is best to stay away and not come out into the light until you can at least tolerate the light and all that comes with it, you know, like human interaction!

It is Wednesday, a week after treatment, I feel somewhat better, but not great. Peripheral Neuropathy increasing and then subsiding, all the while very painful to cope with. I have not been able to ride my bike, even around the neighborhood. I have been too unsteady for the balance required to ride.

Yesterday afternoon, I took Martha for a walk. Walking is harder than riding a bike. It seems to take more energy and I don't have it..right now, anyway. This too, shall pass!

We will see what today brings! Better things, I hope!