Heading into last weekend, Dea and Peter met with the docs who are running Dea’s CAR T-cell trial. This was the meeting to review Dea’s 90-day post-treatment test results, and the results were mixed.
You might recall that, before Dea’s CAR T treatment, the trial team determined that her tumor cells presented lots of that MUC-1* surface glycoprotein — which is the target of their experimental immunotherapy. Her MUCkiness raised hope that Dea might be a particularly good candidate for the treatment in question and, upon reviewing last week’s test results, it seems there may have been some legitimate reasons for that optimism. Ninety days out, and with no chemotherapy during any of that time, it was encouraging to see that most of the tumors Dea brought into her clinical trial neither grew nor multiplied. However, one tumor in her liver turned out to be an exception. Over the past few weeks that one has grown in a concerning manner, and her circulating tumor markers have spiked pretty high. This is a disappointment.
Dea’s medical team has proposed a couple alternative chemo strategies but, unfortunately, both options portend mixed blessings: Either one might contain the new liver lesion, but each would also weaken the CAR T-cells that seem to be restraining her bone tumors. Dea wants to sort this out and answer a bunch of questions before selecting the path forward. What is the nature/etiology of this liver lesion? Why is it growing faster than others? What’s the full menu of treatment options, and what are the tradeoffs for each one?
Dea and her team are lining up tests and investigations to refine the treatment plan post haste, and it’s becoming clear that this phase will be a lot of work. She reports that, while she’s focused on those tasks, she’s loving the comments that people leave here on the site, as they allow her to stay focused on the mission at hand, and check in for communication when her schedule, pain-level, and energy permit. Thanks to everyone who’s communicating through the site.
Dea’s Photo Medicine
Dea reports that that the photo collection that’s still growing here on the site is a special form of medicine for her spirit (she sends thanks to all contributors!). She particularly loves the shots that capture her together with dear friends and family and, during this chat, Dea wondered out loud: “wouldn’t it be cool if someone’s got a shoebox full of really old photos” with pics of childhood Dea, and images that capture her connections going even further back in time? Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask…
If any of you have more photos that capture Dea together with her peeps, we hope you will keep uploading them into the photo album (instructions below). If anyone has physical printed photos that predate digital photography, those are especially precious. Please write to us here if you have some of those and you need help scanning or uploading those old treasures (dailydea@deaperry.com)!
I’ve extended the meal train for a bit of the summer. If you would like to sign up for a meal to support the Perry clan this summer, please click here to sign up.
The ever-growing Dea photo collection is just below. If you take a look, please note that the photos don’t all fit on one screen, so you have to click the “load more” buttons at the end of each batch (until I figure out how to fix that limit).
We’ll share updates when the dust settles and the game plan for going forward becomes clear!
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Click on any photo, below, to enter slideshow mode. Instructions for contributing photos are at the bottom.
Photos moved here.