Stephanie,

There are others on here who are "experts" at this, but I'll give you my two cents. From the research I did on my own, I discovered that "Phase I trial" means it's the first time humans get the drugs (and all participating in the study get them). This is to figure out dosage and side effects, etc. In "Phase II," I still believe all people in the study get the drugs, but maybe to varying degrees so that docs can "tweak" treatment to control side-effects, benefits, etc., that were discovered in Phase I. In "Phase III," however, this is usually where things get complicated. People in these trials are split into groups; some get standard chemo treatment, some get the experimental drug, so may get a placebo. All of this is for comparison of treatments. Most (or all?) of these Phase III trials are "blind," meaning no one knows who is getting what (to not influence the findings) until the study is over. Beyond Phase III, I believe it is a matter of getting the drug to more of the general population after FDA approval (or tentative approval). If I am incorrect about any of this, I'm sure others on here will correct me. :rolleyes:

As I was looking for clinical trials last week, I decided I wanted a Phase II for my husband, but I have seen posts on here where folks are considering Phase III and worry about being in the "placebo" group. Brian is apt to tell these folks to take the chance because having a chance at a drug that might help is better than having no chance at all. Makes sense to me, but I can see why you would be concerned that "luck of the draw" would leave your mom out of getting the drug.

I do have sad news to pass along regarding my husband. I did also discover this week that Scott is not eligible for clinical trials or further treatment (other than the chemo pill he's currently on, Xeloda, which doesn't seem to be doing a thing to slow down the tumor growths on his face, but it's early yet...).

It's a long story, but to give the short version, when there is metastasis to the skin with tonsil cancer, the outlook is very grim because there is no controlling the cancer from infiltrating the carotid artery (which happens to be just beneath the area of my husband's recent tumor outbreak). I will spare you the gorey details about events that will take place when this happens, but I found out the hard way that although my husband does not yet have distant metastasis, things will most likely turn for the worse sooner rather than later.

This little fact was not revealed to me in my conversation with our doctors. When I asked them why there was nothing more they could do for him, they used the line "all standard treatments we've tried have failed." But I couldn't help thinking that the cancer is not yet in his brain, lungs, kidneys, liver, etc. so why give up? The carotid artery involvement makes all the difference. This particular condition is rare, and I have only uncovered two articles online about it; if anyone is interested in them I'll send you the web links.

This is a very difficult and sad time for us. We are trying to make the most of each day. We don't know if we have one hour, one month, or more. He's still ambulatory so at least for now we can enjoy a brief stroll down our street now that weather here in southwest VA has temporarily warmed up.

Christine