Chemo maintenance – end of cycle 11
This week marked the end of my eleventh three-week cycle of medication following my bone marrow transplant. I am still feeling great and living a very-near normal lifestyle with only a few restrictions. In June Irene and I flew out to San Diego to attend my retirement party (which the Burton Group conveniently co-located with its annual Catalyst conference). This was my first post-transplant experiment with a long flight, and although my feet bothered me a bit after sitting in an airplane for 5 hours, everything else was ok. I did not catch any bugs from the trip… although I was careful and wore a surgical mask on the plane.
Now that Irene and I are retired we’re spending a nice summer around the house. There are still a few seasonal restrictions due to my immune deficiencies: can’t cut the grass, can’t work in the yard or garden, and can’t swim in the lake. These restrictions will disappear after I receive inoculations this October/ December/ February and my immune system is back to full strength.
NEWS FROM MY CLINIC VISIT
Irene and I met with Tara, the Oncology PA, this morning at UofM (Dr. J is on vacation). Once again, my health seems to be proceeding as expected, there are no significant changes since my April checkup, and I am just coasting-along in maintenance mode.
MEDICATION CHANGES
My blood work during this 3 month cycle shows a reaction to long-term exposure to Revlimid, my chemotherapy drug. My white cell and ANC counts (antibody/immunity indicators) began dropping about 6 weeks ago. This disorder, called “neutropenia” is not unexpected of Revlimid patients and not a cause of major concern. My lab work (blood tests) interval was shortened from monthly to weekly – allowing the clinic folks to monitor me more closely. To counteract the neutropenia Dr. J prescribed Neupogen, which I self-inject whenever the clinic calls and tells me I need a booster shot. {Self-injection may sound awful, but it is trivial compared to some of the other procedures I’ve encountered. ;- }
SIDE EFFECTS
Neuropathy – This feeling of swollen feet continues to diminish, to the point now where it is hardly noticeable. In August I am going to experiment by discontinuing all of the medications (a large list of pills for this side-effect alone) that I take for neuropathy and see if those are still making any difference (the drugs are really more of a preventative measure than side effect treatment).
Vision – As Dr. J. had expected, discontinuing the Dexamathasone steroid back in April reversed the decline in vision that I was noticing. My eyesight now (as far as I can tell, I need to get to an optometrist and get things checked out) is back to its pre-chemotherapy 2006 state. [see the April 30th blog posting for background on this]
NEXT STEPS
For the time being, I have lab/blood work scheduled every week until we can better predict the interaction of neutropenia with my Neupogen injections. Perhaps the interval will stretch to bi-weekly when we see a predictable pattern. Sprinkled in the schedule every 6 -8 weeks are an infusion of bone strengthening drugs (pentamidine) and an anti-pneumonia respiratory treatment (pamidronate). I’ll visit with Dr. J and his PA Tara in another 3 months. So unless there are some dramatic changes [which I think are unlikely] my next blog posting won’t be until late October.
That’s the latest news from Hamburg.
-larry