06/03/08 – Update & Other Musings

Today I had my bi-monthly infusion of IVIG in La Jolla. At the same time they do the standard blood tests, and check to see how I am doing. My hemoglobin has dropped just a little from 12.9 to 12.3. This is what they call an insignificant drop, and my Case Manager told me, "I was doing good". I am doing so well they want to taper me off of the Prednisone completely by June 19^th. They want to do this mainly because that is when my next appointment is with Dr. Kipps. If I continue to hold my own, and get completely off steroids by the 19^th, then the plan will be to start therapy the next week.

The Therapy - We still haven't determined what that therapy will be, but my guess is that it will be a course of monoclonal antibodies. This is not chemotherapy, but is a drug that attacks a specific cell marker. One choice would be Rituxan (generic name rituximab) and high (pulse) doses of steroids. Back in October, I had this therapy, but I only had it one day a week for 3 weeks. When it is used this time it will be done over a 3 month period; the first month will be 4 consecutive days, the second and third months of 3 consecutive days. So there will be a total of 13 days of treatment spread out over 3 months. So you can see that this is a much more intense therapy than I got the first time. The number of consecutive days may require we stay in La Jolla during these treatments. The treatments are given at a VERY slow rate. If you remember, the first time I had Rituxan, it took 11 hours. Who knows if this will take that long or not. They say they you adapt to some of the treatments over time, and are able to tolerate them better (less side effects and faster infusion rates). The other therapy option that was discussed was the use of another monoclonal antibody called HUMAX CD20. At the time we discussed it in February, it was still in clinical trials and Dr. Kipps thought he could get me into a trial. Since that time, I have read that the trial is over and now they are compiling the data. I don't know if the good doctor could or would want to get me into this trial. It is similar in nature to Rituxan, but it does its job differently. I am sure we will discuss this on the 19^th.

Cancer Funding - I know this next topic may incite riots and make some people crazy, but I have to bring it up. I am not making a political statement, but just stating the facts. The Federal Government funds much of the research for cancer related programs. Over the last 30 years, the annual amount has gone up and down, with different administrations and different economies. In 2007 the National Cancer Institute's budget was $4.75 Billion. This week I read an article in Newsweek that stated the war in Iraq has cost us over $340 Billion. Now of course, there will be those of you that say that the war was necessary, and I may not totally disagree with that, but man, that is a lot of money (not to mention the lives lost), and only time will tell if we have done any real good. The article went on to state that the $340 Billion is more than the TOTAL amount of funding for cancer research in the last 30 years. Over 1.5 million people will be diagnosed with cancer this year in the United States. In the U.S. this year, an estimated 560,000 people will die from cancer. The National Health Institute estimated that overall cost of cancer was $219 Billion in 2007. (that is EVERY year folks, and going up all the time). I am sure that there are many other government programs that receive money for questionable reasons, but we are talking about a LOT of people here. It seems to me that we may have our priorities screwed up. And don't get me started about Universal Health Care or the FDA.