March 7th- ABT-869

For all our medical friends and family, here is the scoop on the clinical study in layman terms. I hope others, who want to know, will also understand this explanation.
Abbott Laboratories has a chemotherapy drug that has been successful in controlling the cancerous growth of some tumors because it blocks the growth of new blood vessels and kills cancer cells. It is now being tried on Leukemia patients, like Bill, who have a chromosome mutation called FLT-3 Positive. This is the mutation that is very aggressive, and other chemotherapy treatments have not been able to control it (as we well know). Bill is the third person at The University of Chicago Hospital to be involved with this study. The other patients are 2 and 3 weeks ahead of him. It is too soon to tell if the drug is successful, but the other patients are far enough ahead to know what side effects need to be addressed.
Bill will take 10 mg of this drug in liquid form, mixed into Ensure for 26 days. The first day (Thursday) he had a blood draw every 15 minutes for the first hour. Then every half hour, then hourly for the rest of the day. The laboratory wants to monitor the drug in his blood stream, and watch how his body is handling the drug. This drug is experimental and is not approved by the FDA. It has the same side effects as other chemotheraphy drugs. After the first day, Bill is doing fine.
Bill will have his second dose Friday night, and future doses will be in the evening with blood work being drawn twice daily.
I have learned that Bill will not come home unless his good white cells improve to the point he is no longer neutropenic. Just like we watched the cancerous white cells decrease this week, we will want the Neutrophils (good white cells) to improve next week. Blasts in his blood stream are down to 14%.
Bill was even better today. He has an appetite, we took three walks (together), and he asked that I bring his book to read. Bill has not wanted to read since December. (I guess it takes red cells, oxygen to the brain, to read). He is conversational again and I feel like “our Bill” is back.
I have begun to realize that you are all on this roller coaster ride with us. When I didn’t get a blog off for a few days this week, my phone was ringing. I don’t like to make entries when there is a problem, until the crisis is over. And sometimes there is a “crisis” everyday. But the past 2 days have shown improvement everyday.
Let us pray for Bill’s continued improvement and God’s work in helping new drugs be developed to fight disease. Amen