Laura's stage 4 diagnosis became refractory (non-responsive to traditional treatments like chermo) last Summer and she started the clinical trial that almost killed her due to immunotoxin Colitis that put her in the hospital last August. Luckily, she was able to recuperate and stay on the trial after they removed one of the drugs from her regimen. Immediately after her hospitalization we all had to suffer the incredible loss of her father David Wilson (Poppi). 

      Laura, finally recuperated enough to restart participation on the clinical trial literally qualifying to the protocol standards just on the very day she would have expired her opportunity. Laura continued the trial and we became extremely surprised as was the oncology team that her tumors were shrinking not just a little but initially by 75%, the best results of anyone on the trial. I started calling her the #1 guinea pig as her response continued to improve achieving a 92% reduction in metastasis!!!!!

     The next six months were the best she has had in many years. Although we still went to treatments every other Friday and continued to get CT Scans every 6 weeks which made for an unrelentingly busy schedule. Laura has tolerated the treatments much better than the chemo and the effectiveness was staggering. 

     Unfortunately, Immunotherapy can also cause the immune system to attack healthy systems like it did a year ago August. Well into the Spring this year Laura started having some bowel obstruction issues very reminiscent of the horrific 2019-2021 period when we had numerous hospitalizations for obstructions. These subsided but were an early warning that the trial treatment may be starting to cause problems. Then in July Laura suffered another immunotoxin Colitis event and was temporarily taken of the trial and given medications to mitigate the issues. she responded well and quickly and resumed trial treatments.           

      August Again!!!! This past August she developed another case of immunotoxin Colitis and we did the same remediation treatments as July. This time however they did not work and Laura's Colitis causing extreme diarrhea episodes continued to get worse and worse. She has been fighting the increasingly severity of the colitis for 4 weeks now.

     This past weekend we had a Memorial service for her Dad to allow extended family and friends to pay the respects, share stories and celebrate the magnificent soul that is Poppi. Laura although suffering dozens of colitis related episodes a day rallied and made it to the Memorial held in the Adirondacks where Poppi was laid to rest. She fully participated and hid her suffering extremely well, but the diarrhea continued to get worse every day and all through each night causing her to not sleep. We returned home Monday and immediately got ready for the next day - the start of Liam and Claire's school year. So, in short, a very high stress Holiday weekend, both physically and mentally.

     I can't imagine ever meeting a person as strong and formidable as Laura. She continues to amaze me with her ability to manage and suffer through an endless number of truly terrible episodes and developments and all the while putting up with me and the kids, WOW!!!!!

     Tuesday, I immediately reached out to Laura's medical team and reported her condition. They wanted her to be brought into Acute Care at Dana Farber immediately, but Laura said "NO, I need rest!" and the agreed to wait until today Wednesday, September 6th. We met with the team this morning and they suggested they are preparing to have Laura admitted to the hospital to get the Colitis under control. We ended up agreeing to hold off the decision for admitting her till Friday when we will meet with the team again and possibly get a new IV medication that they are awaiting approval from the Trial Directors. They have increased her steroid medication almost doubling the level she was taking. We did have to agree that if the diarrhea increases in the next 48 hours I will take her to the ER in at Brigham and admit her.

    The last and most depressing information is that, at this point she is being removed from the trail and probably permanently. The immunotoxin Colitis is now more dangerous than her cancer and they are very worried of permanent damage occurring to her colon or her suffering a bowel perforation both of which are deadly.

     So now we are back to trying get the Colitis under control sooner than later and then who knows? We will be entering new territory and won't know what the newest strategy will be until after the Colitis is under control. No one knows as this Trail was a stage 1 trial meaning there is no data to refer back to but the possibility exists that the immunotherapy might continue to keep her cancer at bay but unfortunately it may also continue to create immunotoxin events as well.

     As always, One Day At a Time!

~Bill