[chrisy]

Hi Irene,

I was also worried about being DQ'd from the continuation trial, for me it is elevated liver enzymes. I still also have low platelets, usually at the lower level of normal. But my onc nurse assured me there was NO WAY this would happen. After all, one of the purposes of the trial is to assess long term S/E, so they need all of us old lab rats!

Any S/E that didn't cause you to drop from the parent trial shouldn't prevent you from entering the continuation trial if you are receiving benefit from the drug (which you clearly are!)

Funny thing for me was, my LFT's were so consistently high (you remember my liver cleansing ritual of daily beet juice and carrot salad!) that now I'm back on the 3 week schedule. They restage prior to entering the continuation trial, so my elevated LFT's are my new normal! So that keeps me within treatable range. Although I'm still diligent with the beet juice and carrot salad, I do sneak in a glass of wine now!

The schedule is much less intense - no interim office visits. That is great for me since I had a 75 mile commute and I really was not happy getting up at 5am every Monday! Scans are also much less frequent...which of course NOW scares me even though before I thought they were way too frequent! I have scans at the end of June (let the scanxiety begin!)

So, doing well over all - and again, I'm SO glad this is working so well for you!!!!

take care
Chris