Another successful trip to https://www.dana-farber.org, one of our family’s places of great hope. After a day of scans(chest, abdomen, pelvis), bloodwork, brain MRI, and an appointment, I heard the words of hope – “Everything looks great!” Great=Stable, and stable means our Lady Lorlatinib continues to stay strong, keeping her thumb on the switch so ROS1 cannot take off and race throughout my body again. Well worth an 18 hour day, well worth the side effects, well worth making my chauffeur drive 5 hours, wait in the car, drive 6 hours (yup, hit rush hour traffic, first time since pandemic).
For the first time since beginning lorlatinib (nearly four years ago), my bad cholesterol is in the normal range. Great news! Thanks to the perseverance of my DF team, I am now taking a combination of meds that can counter this ugly side effect of lorlatinib. Three cholesterol lowering meds, each with their own job to do, working together to bring my cholesterol under control. This is important not just for me, but for the data collected on lorlatinib. If ROS1 lung cancer can someday be considered a chronic, managed disease, then the drugs to treat it have to be tolerated well by all body systems. And, of course, the drugs need to be designed so ROS1 cannot find a work around. Researchers are getting closer to this all the time.
Last week I sat in on a zoom meeting with Nuvalent, the company developing a drug to specifically target ROS1, not other drivers as well like others drugs used to treat ROS1. (Here are my unscientific thoughts if I followed it somewhat correctly.) Specifically targeting ROS1 means that it will be laser focused on just those cells, not affecting others along the way. With no attention anywhere else, ROS1 will not be able to mutate and escape. Also, I think with other things along the way not being affected, side effects will be less, and perhaps ROS1 lung cancer will be a chronic, managed disease. The Nuvalent drug for ROS1 has not yet been tested in humans. It will be in a phase 1 clinical trial within a few months. Only a few people in a few sites will be in this trial. Then, if dosing can be determined and all goes well, it will move on to a phase 2 trial, with many more people included. The team working on this is filled with heroes. They were told of a need that had real possibilities for successful treatment, and they are working as quickly as possible. The ROS1ders are encouraged, hopeful, and grateful.
These new, more effective and efficient treatment options are desperately needed because so many are running out of options. For some of the ROS1ders the drugs developed initially for ALK tend to work longterm. A few have been on crizotinib for several years (many years for the lung cancer world) , and a very few of us have been on lorlatinib for four or more years. But for many, ROS1 finds that way around and these patients go through treatment options quickly, not finding one or even a combination that works. This spring we’ve lost several ROS1ders, young people, healthy all before they developed cancer. The possibility of that promising drug is something to give hope to surviving ROS1ders and our families.
As for me, I continue to find joy in the everyday every day. I recommend this practice to anyone. It is soothing for the soul, especially when things are sad. Don’t let life pass by without taking time to enjoy the “little” things. Right now for me it’s watching wildlife, playing ball with Ruby Jean, planting the garden with Dan, and picking flowers, leaves, etc. to dry, laughing at goat antics, tripping over Rusty (always underfoot), and quiet evenings with Dan and the dachshunds.
Enjoy your summer! That’s my plan.
Be a ROS1der Superhero! https://ros1ders-inc.networkforgood.com
polepole ~ breathe 