Oh, I see Sleen never got around to updating this power function vs. exponential growth function topic... and the fact that Dad out-mathed Daughter on this one. Math-y daughter predicted power function would yield 5350 for the next day. But Dad knows that the process is exponential, so why did expon...

The countdown has begun. She will get her Tumor Infiltrating Lymphocytes back at about 12:30 today. Please say a prayer that those killer T-cells find all the tumors and do their thing.

Hi Lori, your story sounds so much like my DW Sleen. She found out in December that the spots in her lungs were mets and we were pretty shocked by that news. Her attitude is that she would rather seek a treatment that has a hope of curing her, rather than accept the standard of palliative care. So w...

We have a friend who had a 3cm mass. It was transverse colon, not rectal so somewhat different, but it was staged 0... precancerous. They still had to remove 10cm of colon, but no further therapy. It is really a matter of penetration, nodes, differentiation, and mets. Don't panic, size is not one of...

Well I didn't expect this. Dr. Rosenberg was among the traveling band of doctors making rounds this morning, and as he left he said something along the lines of: we are excited about your cells, they are very interesting and we will learn a lot from them. And then as an afterthought "and they s...

Sleen is pretty sleepy today after her first round of Cytoxan (Cyclophosphamide). She gets one more round of that tonight and then they say that the Fludarabine will be easier to tolerate starting tomorrow. Thank you for your comments and prayers; they boost her spirits. We keep all of you in our pr...

Here we are at NIH. Tests, tests, and more tests, and then Sleen gets a week of prep before the cell infusion on July 1. I hope they are right about her TILs reacting to a KRAS mutation; she had both her primary and met positive for KRAS mutation. This is exciting and scary. She really appreciates p...

Being a mathy kind of engineering geek, I can't resist commenting on this. Maybe GrouseMan or DK37 can comment on this, but I assume that the intent of the pump is to keep the concentration of 5FU in your blood at a constant level for the entire 46 hours. It pumps enough 5 FU every 2 minutes to make...

Yesterday I got new clothes in the mail ( my trousers keep dropping of my butt from loosing 25 kg in this last half year) they are hanging where I can see them and the only thing I could think of last night, what will they do with my clothes if I die. What a waste, should I try to sell them before ...

I almost jumped out of my seat when I saw your post this morning. I hope the rough times are over and you feel "normal" soon. It's very exciting to see your progress. We will keep you in our prayers.

I'm so sorry to hear that you were not able to proceed in this trial. Glad you were able to say "Hi" to Karin while you were there. These trails really are something of a craps shoot.

Good luck with Day 0 today Karin. I will be thinking about you all day. I hope the IL-2 side effects are minor and easy to handle.

GREAT news Karin!!! I am imagining little pac-man cells... nom nom nom

I would just like to add a couple of things: 1. Besides being free, they will do a complete genome study on you and your tumor. That info could be used for other targeted treatments later if you need it. 2. Karin is right about the protocol changing; they are now making Antigen Producing Cells conta...

That would be better. Two trips take a lot of time, especially from Oregon, and they don't pay for the screening trip if they don't do surgery.