bobhuang1 wrote:We applied to this clinical trial by Dr. Rosenberg and we will fly down to Bethesda next week for a "final" screening. My question is, what kind of experience others have during this screening? Any details? And what to expect after the screening in terms of timeline? What can I do as a caretaker to make the whole thing less painful/stressful for my wife?
I'm sorry it took three days to reply to this request; We just got back from NIH last night. Celine is now officially one year NED. To answer your question, the best place I know of to go is Sleen's blog: cancerriot.blogspot.com . But if you have been following this thread, I suppose you've already seen that. Do you have a specific question that the blog doesn't address?
In general, the timing drags slowly:
screening - schedule surgery one to two weeks later
surgery - wait for cells to grow, sequence, test, grow some more, test again, schedule treatment about 12 weeks later
Treatment - two days of scans and bloodwork, seven days of chemo, cell infusion, three days of IL2, two to three weeks of recovery, all inpatient.
Followup - scans every four to six weeks for six to twelve months, then quarterly or so.