I'm Back!

I’m back! Thanks to all of you who have been so understanding (and supportive) while I took a break from Jan’s Corner for all these months.

As many of you know, I’ve been involved with the first siRNA clinical trial for skin in a human being. The clinical trial proved to be more time consuming and more physically and mentally demanding than I’d anticipated. That first month of January, I wrote a Jan’s Corner about shoes. And while shoes are very important to us PCers, my heart wasn’t in it and I never posted it. At that point, the trial was consuming my life and all I could really focus on was what was happening to me. I had plenty of thoughts about the trial that I would have loved to share with you all, but I wasn’t sure what I should or should not say. Needless to say, I took the time off from this Corner simply because every subject to write about besides the trial was far from my mind and heart, and yet I was afraid that what I might write about the trial might either raise false hopes or unduly disappoint when frankly for much of the trial, I really had no idea how it would all turn out.

So with that explanation, let me just say it’s nice to be back in touch. I still am in the actual trial. Although my last injections were in May, I am monitored for what’s called a “wash-out” period. The trial is also still blinded, which means no one, including my doctors, know which foot had the actual siRNA.

However, I personally am 100% sure which foot had the siRNA. Because the trial doesn’t end until August 14, I’ll wait to give all details, but let me tell you this – in my opinion as a patient, the trial was a success. I’m healthy with no known side effects at all. The primary reason for this trial was to prove safety in a human. To my knowledge, that was proven.

Best of all, after three months of gradually increasing the volume and dose concentration in the injections, the targeted callus on one foot not only thinned out in the targeted area, it turned to beautiful, pink skin. And I have pictures to prove it! Wow! Just writing this makes me feel weepy. It really happened. Of course, I’m not cured – it was just one spot on one callus. This trial was just the first step in a very large process. But it’s still amazing. I could write pages and pages about the trial and exactly what happened.

I did give a presentation of the trial from “a patient’s point of view” at the Patient Support Meeting in Scotland just a few weeks ago, complete with photos. We hope to get that presentation posted soon so all of you can see exactly what happened and really, what it all means for all of us.

In the meantime, while this siRNA trial has been happening, still other treatments for PC are being developed. Which one will be the very best one for us is yet unknown, but the fact that there is more than one is just amazing. Once again, I express my undying gratitude to those incredible people who are working so hard for us PCers!