Good News Again

Mayo Clinic Visit Wednesday, April 2, 2009, end of Cycle 14:

Results:

M-Spike is the same at 0.9 g/dL, IgG is up slightly from 923 to 1060 mg/dL, and Lambda light chains are also up a little from 2.64 to 3.04 mg/dL. I'm not concerned about IgG & light chains, because those numbers do seem to fluctuate a bit from one cycle to the next, as does the M-Spike for that matter. Taking the long view, these major markers have been level or down since June, 2008, and the trend is pretty much level. This is great, and Hooray for modern science!

CC-4047 is an experimental drug, an analog of Thalidomide and Revlimid but apparently more potent and with fewer side effects. In early March, a year ago, I started on the Mayo trial of CC-4047 with dexamethasone (DEX). By June, M-Spike dropped dramatically from 2.7 down to 1.1 g/dL. From there it dropped to 0.9, then up again to 1.1, and back down. Those variations may not have any meaning, and in fact they may be within the measurement error of the tests. Eventually the treatment will probably fail, as they tend to do, only time will tell. Meantime, there is life to be lived.

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		Best with a wide browser window. Very "technical."

Side effects of the two key drugs, CC-4047 and dexamethasone, are discussed in a previous post.

Here are a few specific test results:

Test		Jan 08		Feb 05		Mar 04		Apr 02		Remarks
M-spike g/dL		1.1		1.0		0.9		0.9		Best tumor measure
IgG mg/dL		1350		1160		923		1060		Variation is normal
L FLC mg/dL		3.31		2.78		2.64		3.04		Free light chains
Calcium mg/dL		9.9		9.7		9.7		9.5		Below 10.2 is best
Creat mg/dL		1.1		1.0		1.0		1.0		Kidney, lower is better
HGB g/dL		15.3		14.9		13.7		14.7		Hemoglobin, normal
RBC M/uL		4.36		4.28		3.89		4.26		Red cell count, low
WBC K/uL		4.6		5.0		4.5		4.2		White cells, normal

Doctor:

I met again with the nurse-practitioner Dr KDS, but our discussions were short this time. She did give me a prescription for physical therapy designed to strenthen the bones that were known to be threatened by myeloma lesions a year ago. I have previously discussed this with a personal trainer and had one session with her, but will now make an appointment with a physical therapist. Perhaps I'll learn a set of exercises that I will actually do on a regular basis.