Wednesday we took another trip to Chicago, strong crosswinds both on the way up and back made for difficult driving. On top of that, snow north of Kankakee was also an issue with whiteout conditions caused by the wind coming home which had us moving at 30mph with vehicle flashers on a number of times.

This was Suzanne’s fourteenth infusion in the PATHway trial. The past few weeks, we have had a number of discussions about whether there were going to be seventeen or eighteen treatments in the trial. Our debate was solved when Suzanne’s Trial Nurse shared that there will be a total of nineteen treatments in her plan. Since Suzanne started mid-April last year, the year-long trial won’t be complete till mid-April of 2022. So much to Suzanne’s dismay, five more treatments remain.

On this visit, we had a good long talk with her oncologist Dr. J. We asked many questions concerning the trial, its progress, and how my Astronaut wife fits into it all. Although Keytruda is used to treat re-occurring cancers, it has never been used as a preventative measure and that is the basis of this study and trial, to see if it helps prevent the return of the disease. There were close to one hundred participants in this clinical trial at the start but many who have already had their cancers return had to drop out.

For Suzanne, things have gone well and we still presume she is getting the drug based on certain clinical signals and her physical reactions. If she still has cancer cells, the study is trying to determine if the drug kills those cells, keeps them in suspension, or has no reaction at all. Since there is no way to know if Suzanne has cancer cells remaining after surgery, they use the surgical doctor’s opinion whether he was optimistic or skeptical about the success of the surgery. In Suzanne’s case, the indications were generally positive except for two lymph nodes which qualified her for the trial.

We also learned that the Trial staff wants to continue to follow Suzanne closely for some time after the completion of the infusions. That means trips to Rush every 3 months for the first year and every four months for the following year for scans & bloodwork. Much to Suzanne’s chagrin, this close monitoring is a proactive approach to be sure the disease doesn’t reoccur.

With the temperatures we are experiencing, it’s now time to hibernate for the next three weeks in hopes of better roads and smoother weather.

For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised.

Hebrews 10:36

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