{"id":130,"date":"2010-07-07T14:56:12","date_gmt":"2010-07-07T19:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/?p=130"},"modified":"2010-07-08T05:57:42","modified_gmt":"2010-07-08T10:57:42","slug":"chemo-maointenance-end-of-cycle-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/?p=130","title":{"rendered":"Chemo maintenance – end of cycle 40"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 40<\/p>\n

July 7, 2010 marked the end of my 40th cycle of post-transplant chemotherapy. Irene and I visited the UofM Cancer clinic this morning for the usual lab work, 24 hour urine specimen, and a visit with Dr. Jakubowiak. Still very good news – the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete remission.\u201d<\/p>\n

IMMUNE SYSTEM PROBLEMS<\/p>\n

My immune system continues to be in lousy shape. During my previous maintenance cycle I suffered a few really bad colds; this cycle it was a bad case of diarrhea. After suffering for four days with no improvement we called the clinic and got the docs involved \u2013 and they prescribed some drugs that solved the problem. Not sure where I picked up that bug but it sure nailed me<\/p>\n

NEWS FROM MY CLINIC VISIT<\/p>\n

These immune system issues are a known side effect of the Revlimind chemotherapy drug that I\u2019m taking. Aside from my primary medical problem \u2013 keeping the Multiple Myeloma in check – Dr. J\u2019s biggest concern is avoiding any cuts, injuries, or exposure to germs that would cause me to become ill due to a compromised immune system. He\u2019s decided to monitor my immune system a little more closely by increasing lab work (blood tests) to monthly – on the same day as when I pick up my monthly batch of Revlimid from the UofM pharmacy.<\/p>\n

SIDE EFFECTS<\/p>\n

The month-long vacation from Revlimid (discussed in my previous blog posting) was very nice. If there were ever any uncertainty whether Revlimid causes the neuropathy in my feet \u2013 this experiment proved it. The pain\/discomfort completely disappeared for those 4 weeks. Today, just one chemo cycle into my new regimen of 5mg pills for 3 out of every 4 weeks\u2026 the neuropathy is back.<\/p>\n

NEWS ABOUT THE CLINICAL TRIAL<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been following my blog for a while you know that my cancer treatment was part of a clinical trial of new drugs with new dosing levels. The results have now been published and you can read about it: http:\/\/abstract.asco.org\/AbstView_74_52410.html<\/a><\/p>\n

I told the folks at the UofM clinic that I copied\/pasted the text into Babblefish, hoping to get an English translation! \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

The disappointing\/disturbing\/unsettling news is that final line of the abstract (I italicized & bolded the key phrase). \u201cConclusions: <\/strong>Len-Bz-dex demonstrates favorable tolerability and is highly effective in newly diagnosed MM, with no impact seen from adverse cytogenetics on response or PFS, and similar outcomes with or without<\/strong> ASCT<\/em>.\u201d Translated this says that the RVD chemo cocktail I experienced was highly effective (hooray!), BUT there seems to be no remission difference between those patients who endured a Bone Marrow Transplant and those who did not. <arghhh!!!> Dr. J is very interested in seeing whether that distinction holds true 4, 5, 10 years post-transplant.<\/p>\n

NEXT STEPS<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll have monthly lab work and continue on my new regimen until my next clinical visit with Dr. J in late September. Check back with my blog then\u2026<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the latest news from Hamburg.<\/p>\n

-larry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chemo maintenance \u2013 end of cycle 40 July 7, 2010 marked the end of my 40th cycle of post-transplant chemotherapy. Irene and I visited the UofM Cancer clinic this morning for the usual lab work, 24 hour urine specimen, and a visit with Dr. Jakubowiak. Still very good news – the cancer remains in \u201ccomplete […]<\/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\/130"}],"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=130"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/130\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.larrygauthier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}