Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 31<\/p>\n
September 16th<\/sup> marked the end of my 31st<\/sup> cycle of post-transplant chemotherapy. Had blood work and visited the UofM Cancer Clinic to meet with Dr. Jakubowiak and assess my progress. Things continue to go well, with all indications that the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete remission\u201d.<\/p>\n No big medical news since my last posting except a follow-up on my shoulder pain. Turns out that I have Adhesive Capsulitis (aka \u201cfrozen shoulder\u201d) \u2013 more common in post menopausal woman but also seen in chemotherapy patients. Although there are some interventions for severe cases (cortizone injections, surgery), most sports medicine docs advise you to \u201cwait it out\u201d \u2013 problem will go away in 12 \u2013 18 months. So, that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n NEWS FROM MY CLINIC VISIT<\/p>\n This was another boring clinic visit \u2013 no changes from the previous time. My ANC counts (immune system indicator) are still below normal, but not dangerously so \u2013 they\u2019re normal for me.<\/p>\n I asked Dr. J about the results of the experimental drug program in which I participated. They have not published anything yet, but an abstract has been written and submitted for publication. He thinks something may appear in a leading cancer journal as early as this December. Dr. J could not reveal any of those specific details, but shared a few things with us: 65 total subjects, 3 have had a recurrence of the disease, the rest remain in remission; many patients did not proceed with a Bone Marrow Transplant (most at UofM did, including me). Although researchers are anxious to publish results of this RVD (the chemo cocktail that I had) study, the real significant factor is the long-term survivability of the subjects. He expects those results to surface in about 5 years, and is curious about survivability statistics of Transplant vs non-Transplant patients. Me, too!<\/p>\n MEDICATION CHANGES<\/p>\n No medication changes, but with the stable blood results we\u2019re seeing, Dr. J has extended my blood work from every 3 weeks to every 6 weeks. One fewer set of needles. Yippee!<\/p>\n Received a flu shot today – the regular kind of flu.<\/p>\n On October 6th I return to the clinic for my final set of childhood vaccinations. I’ll be glad to get those over with (5 injections at one sitting – ugh! Plus an H1N1 shot {if it’s available by then}). At that point, my immune system is supposed to be “back to normal” – or as normal as it’s going to get.<\/p>\n SIDE EFFECTS<\/p>\n Neuropathy \u2013 The same \u2013 reduced Revlimid dosage has made my feet feel better. Hardly noticeable these days.<\/p>\n Neutropenia \u2013 No news here. This \u201cnew me\u201d seems stable enough to reduce the inspections (blood work) to bi-cycle (every-other revlimid chemo cycle).<\/p>\n NEXT STEPS<\/p>\n We don\u2019t meet with Cancer Clinic staff again until December, so my next blog posting won\u2019t be until then.<\/p>\n Between now and then, my new immune system will have had its second birthday. Can you believe it? – been two years already since my Bone Marrow Transplant.<\/p>\n That\u2019s the latest news from Hamburg.<\/p>\n -larry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 31 September 16th marked the end of my 31st cycle of post-transplant chemotherapy. Had blood work and visited the UofM Cancer Clinic to meet with Dr. Jakubowiak and assess my progress. Things continue to go well, with all indications that the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete remission\u201d. No big medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}