Jane completed Cycle 8 and started Cycle 9 today, Thursday, April 19th, of the experimental clinical drug trial. Jane and the team of doctors and support staff at M D Anderson have been able to manage as many of the side effects as possible to a more or less manageable level. M D Anderson is truly an impressive institution with some of the best medical care in the world.
Jane maintains a positive attitude with good energy levels and has been able to attend daily Mass on a regular basis. Jane's doctors have cleared her to undertake a pilgrimage to Lourdes, France from May 2nd to May 9th with her husband and two sisters. Upon Jane's return around the May 10th or 11th timeframe, the doctors will again perform a battery of tests to assess the drugs' effectiveness, and, depending on the test results, the medical team will outline a path forward.
Again, we cannot begin to thank all of you for the incredible generosity and acts of support through the past six months. Yes, it has been a long road but we have been blessed by wonderful family and friends who are rocks of support and love. We are humbled by the countless prayers, rosaries, and Masses and are very grateful for your continued care and concern.
Update (March 31)
Jane completed Cycle 7 on Thursday, March 29th, and on Friday, March 30th, started Cycle 8 of the experimental clinical drug trials at MD Anderson. Jane has been able to manage her way through most of the side effects with some success. Each cycle lasts 21 days. Jane's energy level and stamina typically wanes in the first week after the start of a cycle and gradually increases over the course of the next two weeks. Jane will start Cycle 9 on or about April 20th. At the end of Cycle 9 (or about May 11th), Jane will undergo another battery of tests to measure the effectiveness of the drugs and then, depending on the results, the doctors will plot a path forward.
Jane's doctors have cleared her to travel to Lourdes, France on a Knights of Malta sponsored pilgrimage from May 2nd to May 9th of this year. Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrennes mountains in southwest France, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14 year old local miller's daughter. Following the reports that Our Lady of Lourdes had appeared to Bernadette Soubirous on a total of eighteen occasions, Lourdes has developed into a major place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings. Bernadette has since been canonized and is now known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Jane, together with her husband and two sisters, look forward to the Lourdes pilgrimage in early May and will include everyone in their prayers on the pilgrimage.
Jane's doctors have cleared her to travel to Lourdes, France on a Knights of Malta sponsored pilgrimage from May 2nd to May 9th of this year. Lourdes is a small market town lying in the foothills of the Pyrennes mountains in southwest France, famous for the Marian apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes which occurred in 1858 to Bernadette Soubirous, a 14 year old local miller's daughter. Following the reports that Our Lady of Lourdes had appeared to Bernadette Soubirous on a total of eighteen occasions, Lourdes has developed into a major place of Roman Catholic pilgrimage and of miraculous healings. Bernadette has since been canonized and is now known as Saint Bernadette of Lourdes. Jane, together with her husband and two sisters, look forward to the Lourdes pilgrimage in early May and will include everyone in their prayers on the pilgrimage.
Many thanks and prayers to everyone supporting Jane and her family through the past seven cycles. We sincerely appreciate the continued care, concern and prayers from all the family and friends.
Continuing Rosaries
For many of you with school aged children this week is spring break from school. We will continue to gather as before on Monday night and Thursday afternoon to say the rosary for Jane. We hope that you can join us on Monday, March 12th, as we pray in thanksgiving for the good report that Jane received last week.
Update (March 9)
Jane has completed Cycle 6 of the clinical drug trials today, which we started in October 2011. The test results show that the tumors in the abdomen area appear to be responding to the new drugs as their is a slight reduction in their size and the remaining tumors are stable, that is they are not growing.
As a result, Jane has been cleared for three more cycles of the experimental drug trials which is great, positive news. Cycles 7, 8 & 9 will each last 21 days and take us to about mid-June 2012. At that time, Jane will undergo another battery of tests at MD Anderson to measure the effectiveness of the experimental drug protocol.
Jane feels great, with minimal side effects and her energy level is high.
We have many family and friends to thank for helping us so much through this process. And the prayers, Masses and rosaries and support have been very humbling and very much appreciated. We know that this will be a long journey and we know we cannot walk it alone. Thanks to everyone for helping us.
As a result, Jane has been cleared for three more cycles of the experimental drug trials which is great, positive news. Cycles 7, 8 & 9 will each last 21 days and take us to about mid-June 2012. At that time, Jane will undergo another battery of tests at MD Anderson to measure the effectiveness of the experimental drug protocol.
Jane feels great, with minimal side effects and her energy level is high.
We have many family and friends to thank for helping us so much through this process. And the prayers, Masses and rosaries and support have been very humbling and very much appreciated. We know that this will be a long journey and we know we cannot walk it alone. Thanks to everyone for helping us.
Update (February 27)
Jane had a great check up last week at MD Anderson and she feels much, much better since her hospital stay. She is completing Cycle 6 of the experimental clinical drug trials. With Jane’s energy levels returning closer to more normal levels, Jane has been able to get out of the house but she is still susceptible to infection. In Texas, we all like to give and receive hugs, but for Jane, the least amount of physical contact the better at this point.
Jane’s next milestone is Thursday, March 8th, at which time Jane will undergo a barrage of tests including a CT scan. The CT scan and the other tests will measure the effectiveness of the experimental drugs and then the doctors will determine the path forward, depending on the tests results.
As this has been a long journey, we continue to appreciate all of the prayers and support from family and friends and cannot thank you enough.
Rosaries during Lent
We have been praying the Rosary twice a week for Jane, Monday night at 8pm in St Jude Chapel at Saint Vincent de Paul and Thursday afternoon in the church or cry room at 2:30pm, and many have joined us throughout the last few months.
Since it is almost Lent, when many of us are considering an additional commitment of prayer, I thought of asking you again to consider joining us.
It takes less than 15 minutes to pray the Rosary. The prayers of the Rosary, which come from the Scripture, are very helpful when we are praying for an intention that is close to our heart. When our minds are filled with a thousand anxious thoughts, the words of Scripture in the prayer help us to focus on God and His blessings.
If you are not familiar with the prayers, I have handouts that I bring every time so you can follow along (or you can print out your own from this link http://rosaryarmy.newevangelizers.com/prayers/.
There is also helpful information about why we pray the rosary and copies of the prayers for a scriptural rosary on this page: http://rosaryarmy.newevangelizers.com/prayers/why-catholics-pray-the-rosary/).
We pray the Joyous Mysteries on Monday and the Luminous on Thursday.
Please forward this info on to anyone else who knows Jane and who may be willing and interested in coming to pray with us.
Update (February 16)
Jane was discharged from the hospital on Tuesday, February 14 th - Happy Valentine's Day and is now resting at home. Jane's fever and other related side effects have subsided and she feels great in general. Although we hope to know about the test results from the bronchoscopy in a few days in terms of what type of infection (viral, bacteria,etc.) to better focus the treatment, the results may also be inconclusive. It apparently is fairly common during the course of Phase 1 clinical drug trials to have atypical fevers and side effects from not easily detectable origins.
During Jane's five day hospital stay, Jane's in-laws, Rolie and Lana from big Breaux Bridge, La., came to Houston to help out with the boys. Jane should start Cycle 6 of the Phase 1 clinical trials in the next few days. Please keep praying for Jane.
During Jane's five day hospital stay, Jane's in-laws, Rolie and Lana from big Breaux Bridge, La., came to Houston to help out with the boys. Jane should start Cycle 6 of the Phase 1 clinical trials in the next few days. Please keep praying for Jane.
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