So Joe got his diagnosis in September and by November we were looking at trials because his oncologist mentioned a few options and honestly I was completely lost. Like I taught high school English for 32 years, I can read, but medical trial stuff is a whole different language and I didn't know where to even start.
We ended up going with an immunotherapy trial at Moffitt here in Tampa because it was close to home, but I realize now we kinda just... picked it because of location and because the coordinator seemed nice. That's not exactly a great decision making process.
What I wish I'd known going in: the trial coordinator matters way more than I thought because you're gonna be calling them a lot about appointments and side effects and paperwork, and you need someone who actually responds and doesn't make you feel like you're bothering them. Also the eligibility criteria stuff - we almost missed that Joe's previous imaging didn't meet their exact requirements and it would've been a whole thing.
Anyway, I'm curious how other people actually evaluated them. Did you look at the success rates from other sites? Did you ask about how many patients they'd already enrolled? How much did location factor in for you guys?