Friday, May 6, 2011

Still Stable


Pomalidomide Study:

After 41 cycles on the pomalidomide (CC-4047) study, my M-Spike is still 1.0 g/dL, and IgG is up only slightly. Lambda light chains are up significantly, but they were down a lot last month.

News from the International Myeloma Workship in Paris:

New data from the CALGB study showed that patients who were given Revlimid maintenance after a transplant achieved an overall survival rate of 90% after two years or more, compared with 83% for patients receiving a placebo. Some doctors believe that maintenance therapy of some kind will become the new standard of care. Here is the IMF article. The IMF is the International Myeloma Foundation.

That information and other myeloma facts were presented at a Journalists Workshop, a video press conference by the IMF, which is available for viewing on the web. It lasts about an hour, and is a summary of the high points of the Myeloma Workshop. At about 45 minutes there is a one-minute clip showing me running in a marathon in Providence, Rhode island last Sunday. The clip was included in the press conference as a demonstration of the effectiveness of the new study drug pomalidomide. You could fast forward through the running part, but the rest of the video is actually interesting and I recommend it.

Some Current Test Results:

Test    Feb 07    Mar 09    Apr 07    May 05     Remarks
M-spike g/dL 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 Best tumor measure?
IgG mg/dL 1200 1050 1080 1130 Best tumor measure?
L FLC mg/dL 2.47 2.50 2.08 3.07 L Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL 10.1 9.6 9.9 9.4 Dandy
Creatinine mg/dL 1.0 1.0 1.2 1.1 Kidney, OK
HGB g/dL 16.0 15.2 15.5 14.7 Hemoglobin, good
RBC M/uL 4.44 4.40 4.27 4.11 Red cells, marginal
WBC K/uL 4.1 5.3 4.9 4.6 White cells, OK
ANC K/uL 1.40 1.61 1.90 1.90 Neutrophils, sufficient

Related Links:

My Myeloma     A discussion of my myeloma, not very technical.
My Treatment History Not technical.
My Test Charts Graphic displays of several key test results over time.
My Test Result Table Somewhat technical. Best with a wide browser window.
My Supplement Regimen With links to where I buy them.


Today's lunch: Leftover roast organic chicken (I love cold chicken), hot organic broccoli with a little hot sauce, organic heritage plum tomatoes, and organic USA strawberries. Everything there is normal size except the strawberries, which are enormous. It's strawberry season!

3 comments:

  1. Hi Don;

    I found the IMF video very encouraging for those of us with MM. Then I laughed with joy at the clip of you running, proof of the effectiveness of the novel agents. Way to go!

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  2. Aren't you overdoing the anti-oxidents a bit with strawberries as big as chickens? HA HA! Good to see you are doing so well!

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