Anyone done a Clinical Trial? NEED HELP!

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RyanT
RyanT Member Posts: 19
edited November 2017 in Hormonal Therapy - Before, During, and After

My mom was diagnosed with Invasive Lobular Breast Cancer a few months ago and it's been so overwhelming, as you can imagine. The waiting, insurance, etc. have been horrible but we finally got my mom into Cedar Sinai and they asked my mom if she is willing to do a clinical trial. As of right now she wants to do it but I just wanted to reach out and see if anyone here has taken part in a clinical trial and what your thoughts are? Good or bad? We are so overwhelmed with decisions that it's hard to know if we're making the right choice or not. Of course my mom is deciding as she knows whats best for her, but I'm doing my best to help her with research, going to all her appointments and love and support her throughout this.

Here's more back story on our situation and how we came to this point: https://community.breastcancer.org/forum/71/topics...

Regarding the clinical trial, this is how they described it to us and the medications that will be used.

There is an Arm 1, Arm 2 and Arm 3 of this clinical trial.

Arm 1 is Anatrozole

Arm 2 is Fulvestrant

Arm 3 is both (anatrozole & fulvestrant)

My mom will be given one Arm (at random) to see if it shrinks the cancer before surgery. They will monitor her weekly to see the progress. But if at any point she wants to stop or it doesn't work she can opt out and immediately start standard treatment. Has anyone taken these medications and what were the side effects? Did they work? Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Ryan (her son)

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited August 2017

    Hi RyanT,

    We're really sorry to hear about your mom's diagnosis.

    Making decisions about participating in a clinical trial and can be difficult as there are positives and negatives so it's wise to look into it and get as much information as you can.

    We have a section on our main site which explains the clinical trial process, the different stages, the benefits and risks, and some important things to know before you decide to participate in one or not. See the link below:

    Clinical Trials

    We've also collected member's stories on their clinical trial experience that you may like to read:

    Member's share their Clinical Trial Story

    We hope this helps!

    Best wishes to you and your mom.



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  • jsjubilee61
    jsjubilee61 Member Posts: 2
    edited November 2017

    Hi Ryan,

    Did your mom do the clinical trial? If so which Arm did she get?

    I started Arm II and had my first shot and will get the second next week. My has gotten smaller and is not as hard. My was hard as a brick and a big knot. I will know more on how it's working when the do my next biopsy on Dec 1st.

    I pray everything is working out for your mom!

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