My appointment day has come and gone. Great news! The pathologists report reveals no monoclonal protein in my blood. Translation: No cancer! There are doses of reality. I take a monthly chemo drug called Revlimid. Very expensive. (Insurance is covering most of the cost so far) For me, very effective. I have been taking it on and off for fifteen months now. Working like a charm! But back to reality. There is no cure for my cancer. Unless I am one of the extremely lucky 5%, the cancer, the multiple myeloma will return. Not helping my chances are my chronically low white blood counts caused by the chemo. I have been forced to take an extra week or two weeks between 21 day cycles to allow my counts to bounce back. But they are less and less resilient. My oncologist, Dr. Anderson, has recommended that I cut my dose each month for the second time this year. Eventually the myeloma will adapt to the chemo. Or my body will force me to stop using enough Revlimid to remain effective. Then the cancer will return. In the meantime, my bone pain is becoming more problematic and chronic. Dr. Anderson has ordered a full body x-ray series to help look for new damage caused by the myeloma. I will also be starting a new medication designed to minimize the pain and effects of the tingling in my hands and feet called neuropathy. I'm OK with all of this! Today the cancer is gone and I'm alive! I hope all of your upcoming appointment days go at least as well!
Feel good and keep smiling! Pat
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4 comments:
Good going, Pat!
Because I was in a trial with Revlimid, I had to take dose dex. Yuck. After we went to standard dose dex, it was apparent that the Revlimid wasn't doing anything, so I moved on. I love the idea of just taking a pill though.
I'm so glad you're getting some mileage out of the Revlimid. Buy Celgene stock? :)
Beth
The 5% that you speak of, are these
allogeneic transplant patients that
you're referring to? I have never
read or been told that 5% of MM
patients don't get "it" back. I have seen some allo patients that
seem to be cured but have never seen a percentage like this used anywhere.
Thank's, Beth! Yes, Revlimid is working great for me- and without using Dex! I dropped the Dex about 6 months ago. Pat
Tim's Wife-
I tried to answer your question in Saturday's post. But I want to be careful here. I take my posts very seriously and don't want to speculate and quote inacurate percentages. Common sense tells us that some patients never relapse. They may die of something else first (since so many patients are diagnosed late in life) but my understanding is at least 5% of patients that have undergone treatment are still cancer free after five years. I am just finishing a book called "Living with Multiple Myeloma." Let me see if I can't find some more specific stats, if that would be helpful!
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