Doctors kept Towle overnight and identified fluid around her pump and in her abdomen. She also learned that metastases in her liver had grown. As a result, she has now missed a number of chemotherapy sessions — a setback she did not expect.
Towle recently underwent apheresis, reporting severe nausea, vomiting and intense pain after a catheter placement. She also had surgery as the first step in a clinical trial to harvest tumor tissue so lab teams can try to isolate immune cells. The lab phase will take about two months and, if successful, could provide material for a tailored treatment approach.