10/1/10 – Round 6 Over

This week I finished my 6^th round of treatment. As has been the case for the last couple of treatments it was pretty uneventful. We knew going in that I would do Round 6 unless some of my blood numbers had gone whacko in the last month (which they did not). There was an interesting change in the protocol which made the treatment even easier. In the past, I had to be there on the 3^rd day of the treatment to just have a blood test and take the oral trial drug (which means we had to spend an extra night down there for a blood test). They have now changed the protocol and now I can go home after the 2^nd day of treatment and just take the oral drug at home on the 3^rd day. So this makes it a shorter stay and even easier.

This month is going to be one of anxious waiting. On Oct 25^th I go down for a CT scan to determine if my internal lymph nodes (the only issue left) have shrunk to an acceptable size. On Tuesday the 26^th I see the Dr., get the results of my CT scan and determine whether or not I get Round 7. I know I have said this before (and regretted it), but it doesn't look like I will have Round 7. When I met with Dr. Kipps this week he indicated that with all of my other positive results (blood work and external nodes shrinking), he thinks that the CT scan will also show the results that we want. So I expect we will go down there on Monday, get the CT scan, go to the Dr. appointment on Tuesday morning and then go home.

I probably feel better after this round of treatment than any of the other rounds. I am having very few side effects so I am either getting used to it, or there is nothing left to treat so it is just running through me.

A question that I have been asked 'is what is next'? The real purpose of this trial is to determine how long of a remission can I get from this particular protocol. Even though all of my blood numbers look good, and my nodes may have melted away, the real test is a bone marrow biopsy which can't be performed until 2 months after my last treatment. So if this is my last round then I will have a bone marrow biopsy in November or December. That will tell the depth of the remission. No one in the trial (there are now 12 of us in the U.S.) has had this yet, so we don't know what to expect. So even though I may be done with the Trial, I am still in waiting mode (as usual).

Today is my sister's birthday, so I want to say Happy Birthday to her!. And since I won't probably write another update by Sunday, Happy Birthday to my Dad too!

Terry