Dr. Watkins called and notified us that the blood result of Cici was satisfactory to U of Pittsburg. Therefore she is qualified to attend the clinical trial known as “Immunotherapy for Childhood Gliomas”. Here is the detail of the trial:
- “A vaccine made from small proteins specific to gliomas will be given in combination with an experimental drug called Poly-ICLC, which boosts the immune system. Both will be given by subcutaneous injections at 3-week intervals for the first 24 weeks. Responding patients may continue receiving vaccines every 6 weeks for up to 2 years. Physical examinations, blood testing, and MRI scans will be performed periodically.”
But I don’t think Cici would be overly excited about this. She strongly believe God will save her without too much effort from human (doctors, parents and the like). She accused us for lack of faith in God by seeking help from doctors. Therefore she refuses to take any food (or medicine) that makes her uncomfortable.
2/22 (Wed) – Blood test for clinical trail
Our doctors referred us to attend a clinical trial organized by University of Pittsburg. Today is for Cici to leave blood sample for U of Pittsburg to check if she is qualified. They are looking for patients that contain the HLA-A2 tissue type. Cici was reluctant to cooperate when the nurse came to draw her blood. This is partly because she is scared of the needle, but mostly because she has fed up with the endless day-to-day doctors’ appointment and analysis. She has been a nice and sweet girl who was patiently waiting for her savior for 5 weeks. Now her impatience and frustration started to appear. She refused to eat dinner tonight as a punishment for our forcing her to take blood test today. She has not been eating fruit or drinking water very well lately because of her frustration.
2/15 (Wed) – Back to school
Start from last Friday, Cici is going back to school for 4 hours a day. It had definitely helped to boost her spirit. She like to be treated as a normal girl and live a normal live. We have a conversation with the corresponding school teachers and counselors this morning to go over Cici’s situation, so that the school officials know how to take care of her. The school will also assign a home bound teacher to help Cici to catch up. She also needs to make up enough school hours in order to advance into G5 next year. Cici works very hard to keep up with the class assignments. We sometimes have to force her to take a break and sleep. But most of the time we let her finish what she is doing because apparently catching up with homework is what she enjoyed.
