So here’s the deal. Answers to most of your questions that you will have to any trials is to remind you that they are trials. There are no definite answers. No promises made, there is no concrete evidence to provide because this is a trial. These aren’t new drugs but a new way of treating my type of cancer, Stage 2b Cervical.
Interlace is in its Phase 3 where humans have already undergone tests in previous phases and thus far they feel that progression to phase 3 has been deserved by findings so far. But nothing can be published officially until a larger group of patients have been through the trials.
1999 was the last time a clinical trail for cervical cancer was carried out. It reported that combined radiotherapy along side chemotherapy would improve survival rates. Now this is standard treatment. This was 16 years ago and no other clinical trail has been run since thus no further improvements for how to defeat Cervical Cancer have been researched nor found. Until now! 2015 sees UCL (University College of London) running the Interlace trails. This trail administers 6 doses of induction chemotherapy (prior to the standard treatments) of Taxol and Carboplatin.
This Chemotherapy is designed to reduce the size of the tumour, prevent metastatic (free radicals carrying cancer to other parts of the body) and to prevent reoccurring cancer.
You are given a large document to read at home and in your next visit you will re-read everything again, with space for questions from the medical and clinical trails team. Then I also did extra questioning via email over that weekend which felt good as they were written answers – enquiring of about the phase two trials and what evidence was found etc. Everyone who works in oncology, clinical trails and the surrounding faculties is very careful with their wording. They are careful not to scare you and to use the correct words that can not be misconstrued. There is absolutely no force in choosing to do or not to do the trials. They are no empty promises, it is not their purpose to recruit you and I felt under no obligation to commit. It really is an open decision which for an NHS patient, whom, being accustomed to trusting the advice of doctors this can feel like foreign ground. Your treatment now comes into your own hands and you need to make a decision. So let it be an informed one I say.
Purpose of Study
Make standard treatment more effective by first shrinking the tumour
Aim to reduce risk of reoccurring cancer and stop metastatic cancer (cancer in other parts of my body)
Pro
It will make the 6 week treatment more effective at combating cancer by reducing the tumour volume
Con
It will take an extra 6 weeks for overall treatments – meaning side effects for longer and halt of normal activities
Pro
It tackles cancer that may or may not be moving around the body (micrometastatic disease)
Con
Cisplatin may also do this
Pro
You will be hitting cancer with three types of chemo as resistance to Cisplatin is possible
Con
You might not need it
Pro
You feel like you are doing everything you can to defeat this disease
Con
It might still come back
Pro
It isn’t every day that someone gets to try out a new method of combating cancer, one day this may be the normal way of tackling the disease and you got to benefit from it
Con
It might not be and I will lose my hair.
The main issue I had to get over was the losing of the hair. I have long curly hair which has taken so long to grow and keep healthy. I would look totally different, I wouldn’t be able to play with my locks and what if I needed to change how I dressed in order to match my hair style? My hair was my identity, it was my ego. I look up photographs of GI Jane and Alien. They do look kickass, but in Northern Ireland it is cold! I struggled with this for some time. Until now I don’t ‘look like a patient’ and so choosing this trial I would become a face of cancer in society. People would know. My hair would be gone.
The more and more that played on my mind, the more I began to dislike my hair. I really felt that it was getting in the way of making an informed decision about my health. Yes I knew it would grow back so why did it bother me so much? It would be gone, but then it would return. People would know I am going through cancer treatment – but they should know! People should get themselves checked because cancer is real! I didn’t want to mess with this. Cancer isn’t something to mess with, my hair can come and go but cancer, no, I need to deal with this in the best more effective way possible. I need to kick this thing’s ass for good. Throw everything I can at it. If I am currently at a survival rate of 75% chance of living for the next 5 years and I can increase that even by like, 5%, I’m taking that extra 5%.
I took my hair out of the equation. “If I didn’t lose my hair, would I enter the trial?” I asked myself and a big fat YES came pounding out and I knew that was what I must do. I needed to face losing my hair head on and make a decision that could ultimately aid to me living for longer. And what if the trail wasn’t of any use? It wouldn’t harm my standard treatment by delaying it – the trial wouldn’t exist if that was the case putting the patient/cancer diva in jeopardy – but at least I knew I was doing everything in my power to defeat the cancer. I imagined the regret I would have if I turned down the Interlace trial and the cancer returned and how awful on top of that would it be if the trials are a success and now that was the normal standard treatment. I couldn’t bare that thought. So I signed the consent forms, and got ready for Chemo Day 01.
The Uninvited Guest - Cervical Cancer 