Britt, Mom, Dad, Ali, Grandma Lian, Grandpa Sandy, Grammie & Ryan went back into UCLA to meet with Dr. Kafaja for test results and treatment options. The heart looks GOOD! The Scleroderma has involved the lungs. The CT scan shows Fibrosis in the base and tops of each lung with inflammation throughout. A few nodules appeared and will continue to be watched. The PFTs (Pulmonary Function Tests) revealed that her lungs are only working at about 50% of capacity.
Because there is lung involvement, their first concern is to treat the fibrosis of the lungs. Two medications have shown positive affects on softening up the fibrosis. Dr. Kafaja and Dr. Furst advised on three treatment options; CellCept (an immunosuppressant), Cytoxan infusion (a form of Chemotherapy) or a clinical trial that compared both CellCept and Cytoxan in pill formula. The downside of the clinical trial is that it is a blind trial. Meaning you or your Dr. wouldn’t know which drug you were on. The clinical trial runs for two years. Those on Drug A, would be on it for the full two years, those on drug B would use it for one year and a placebo for one year. Knowing that the clinical trials help researchers learn more about the disease and the drug seemed like reason to move in that direction. But because Britt’s disease was so aggressive and moving so rapidly, we wanted to fight back with the most aggressive drug offered. This would be the Cytoxan infusion.
Being that this drug also has a lot of potential long term side effects, it really made it tough. Long term affects include potential bladder cancer and infertility. Dr. Kafaja advised that we would take every precaution to try and protect her form these other harsh side effects. Giving her Mesna with her Chemo to try and protect her bladder and Lupron hormone injections to put her body into a temporary menopause to protect her eggs for future pregnancies.
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