96. First Round of the Clinical Trial in the Books - Update June 26, 2026

Monday (June 22) is when the latest craziness started… so let’s start there…

There’s no better way to start the week with a mammogram! I left the house at 6:00 am to get to my appointment. I didn’t want Owen to have to wake up at 5 just to head to BAMC (opposite direction of Houston) to wait and then head out to Houston so I told him I’d return and we would hit the road then.

I got back to the house around 8:30 and we started the loading of the car. We got out of the house about an hour later.

I have to mention that Houston is a host city for the 2026 World Cup. And I had no idea that Ronaldo and the Portugal team were playing on Tuesday. Well… I should have known because hotel prices were obscene… Houston is looking so lovely because of World Cup. The city has embraced the football culture of the world. It’s beautiful to see.

The chaos started with his first appointment with the lab. In order for the docs to give the green light for the infusion (new chemo medication), Owen has to clear lab thresholds. And these labs are crazy extensive. Well he went in for the appointment, all seemed to be well. Then he had his EKG appointment. As we were leaving the building, Owen got a call from the lab and said that his blood was contaminated before they could finish all tests. He had to go back in. They pulled more vials. Then we got notified for ANOTHER visit to the lab!

Luckily they realized we just came in for the second draw, ran those tests. His Neuro-oncologist finally cleared him for his infusion so we went in for that appointment at 1730. We didn’t leave until 2200. Because this was his first infusion, we decided it would best for us to stay close to the hospital until the morning in case he had a bad reaction. So we left Houston late Wednesday morning for San Antonio. We got to San Antonio around 3pm, went to pick the Muffin up from school, got her fed and bathed. Took the Muffin home around 8 pm so that I could get Owen to Methodist at Medical Center for his sleep study appointment. The worse thing was that Methodist called that afternoon to say that because of Owen’s recent surgery in April, I had to stay for the sleep study. So I had a chair to sleep in after a full day of driving and grandbaby. We were released at 5 am on Thursday and I started work delayed at 8 am.

Extremely heavy week. I was burning both ends.

Owen is doing ok. And as long as his blood shows his body is handling these drugs well, MD Anderson will keep him on the trial. MD Anderson has approval to keep this trial running thru the summer of 2027.

What happens if his labs show he isn’t handling the drugs well? He will be taken off of the trial and they will recommend the next best thing which is going back to standard of care - another chemo drug to try.

What happens if the trial ends and he is still handling things ok? Depends on how this clinical trial goes. If this drug combo is solid, they will push for FDA approval. That would take some time and he’d be placed back on standard of care. And if this trial doesn’t produce what MD Anderson needs to push for the approval, then it’s back to standard of care for Owen. So prayers are up for him handling the drugs. And praying that these drugs make a difference.

His memory is getting worse… he tried to buy something that he had just picked up the day before. And it’s very difficult for me to feel ok about his desire to drive. He wants to go by the law that says one can’t drive until there are 90 seizure-free days. My concerns aren’t seizures, my concerns lie with impaired judgement with a good section of his temporal lobe missing.

It’s Saturday and I just want to stay under a rock.