Some Interesting Research

Today I was crawling the Internet, looking for some information on treatment options for Mom. She is always asking me if the treatment she is getting is the best that she can get, for her situation.

I think I've found a positive answer to this question. Remember, Mom is getting a two-drug combination of cisplatin and pemetrexed (Alimta).

Here is what I found:

"Several 2-drug combinations have been compared in clinical trials and found to be similar in response rate and survival benefit. Click here for more information about the phase III clinical trials in which various drug combinations have been compared. Overall, no "best" combination has been identified. One possible exception is the combination of pemetrexed (Alimta®) and cisplatin for patients whose histologic type is adenocarcinoma or large cell carcinoma. Recent clinical trials have confirmed that pemetrexed is an active drug against adenocarcinoma and large cell carcinoma and may be more effective than other options. The combination of pemetrexed and cisplatin has been approved for those histologic types. The pemetrexed combination is not an option for patients whose histologic type is squamous cell cancer." - Source: Nexcura (profiled for Mom's type of cancer).

Pay particular attention to the highlighted section (emphasis mine). 

I thought this was particularly encouraging and want to express my thanks to Dr. Aurora for fighting to get this treatment for Mom. 

I will be sure to let her know what I found and hopefully this will provide some additional comfort to her and instill more confidence in her fight. 

Today, Christmas Eve, Beth, the kids, and I are going to go over to Mom and Dad's and bring them their presents. If Mom feels up to it, she is going to try and come over to our house tomorrow (Christmas). 


She is still feeling okay, albeit extremely fatigued, since her first infusion on Monday. It is unclear at this point when we could expect any additional side effects to show up, so we are just rolling with the punches at the present time.