UW Clinical Trial - Visit 7

Apologies for not posting sooner.  It's hard for me to post when I'm traveling . . .

I received my Herminator-2 cells on Thursday - all 16 billion of them!  They weren't sure if that was the most that anyone received in this trial - or the second most. At any rate, it was a lot!  : ) 

They said I might feel flu-like symptoms, namely chills and a fever.  It didn't really hit me until later (I got my t-cells from about 2:30-3:00pm) - not really chills.  I just felt chilly and then I felt my forehead about 9pm and decided it was warmer than usual.  So, I took Tylenol.  I took some again the next morning and then mid-day, but didn't really have a fever after that.  I have only been taking Tylenol since then mostly for the pain in my lymph nodes.

My lymph nodes became a bit more swollen and that whole area is red - with even a bit of bluish-purplish areas.  That's a good thing.  It means the Herminator-2 cells are at work in those lymph nodes releasing cytokines and hopefully killing those cancer cells.  I'll keep y'all posted about the status of these lymph nodes.  My hope is that they start shrinking; they said that it might take a couple of weeks.

I asked Dr. S how they would know whether the t-cells (Herminator-2 cells) they harvested from me where the ones that my body started creating after I received the anti-Her-2 vaccinations.  Dr. S replied that they don't know for sure.  However, they do measure something (wavelengths?  frequency?  something?) in my blood before I get the vaccines and they measure it afterwards several times.  I guess this wavelength?/frequency? changes when there's these t-cells.  But I won't know about these for awhile. 

So, fairly minor side effects. I have been having trouble with the bottom of my feet these past few weeks - my heels feel bruised and that tenderness extends up into the arches of my feet.  I think that it might be plantar fascitis. I talked to my physical therapist about it and she said to do runner's stretches for the achilles.  So, I've been doing that and massaging the tenderness.  They did say I might have muscle aches.  Is it due to my shoes?  I wore Keens all winter.  Starting wearing Chacos more regularly a few weeks ago. Could it be the Chacos?  Hell if I know.  I just know I'm tired of the achiness. 

I played softball today, though.  My left big toe wasn't as sore in my shoe as last week.  And, I could throw without tweaking my shoulder.  I batted 3 for 4 today and my team won 19-6!