The results
are in: My PCR is 2.15 x 10-3. According to my doctor, it is almost half of
what it was two months ago at 4.47 X 10-3. He says that I have jumped the most
important hurdle of Complete
Cytogenetic Response and that we will be “refining” our approach during my
next visit.
Fortunately,
he will now be able to monitor my PCR through blood tests, as opposed to bone
marrow biopsies. That is, as long as there is a continual decrease and no
increase in my BCR-ABL. I am very happy to receive that news.
Prior to my
biopsy results he had decided to reduce my Sprycel intake by one dose per week.
That means that I am taking 100 mg of Sprycel six days a week. He was waiting
on the results to see if we could lower it to five days a week, but I didn’t
quite reach THAT goal…..darn it. I believe that he is giving me one day off per
week due to the cough that I have developed while taking Sprycel (Dasatinib). One
of the more serious side effects of Sprycel is pleural effusion
. Pleural effusions are basically defined as fluid around the lungs. This of
course can lead to a whole host of serious complications, nothing I plan on
dealing with. Hopefully this small reprieve will keep me and my lungs from
entering into the danger zone.
More
troublesome than the cough these days are the mouth sores. By the time the
current ones go away, another two or three appear. I am in awe of just how
painful they are, I have had fever blisters and other canker sores in my mouth
before, but nothing like these. The good news is that maybe I will finally lose
those five extra pounds that I have managed to gain since it is so difficult to
eat!
As far as my
Sprycel vacation day goes, I am thinking that I will choose the day based upon
when my dance competitions are. That would mean that they will most likely fall
on a Thursday or Friday. Hopefully my body will adjust quickly to the respite and
I will have a tad more energy and be a bit clearer in the head for my dance
competitions. This weekend will be my first trial run as we are competing on
Friday at the South Bay Dance Fling.
Praise God
for my good results and thanks to all of you for your continued prayers and
words of encouragement.
If you haven't been to this site you may find some helpful information for your mouth sores. Tedsey has struggled with extremely low counts on Gleevec and has been struggling with terrible lesions on her tongue and cheeks with Sprycel. She talks about what she has found that works for her.
ReplyDeletehttp://community.lls.org/thread/11709?tstart=0
Good luck!