04/05/11- See you in 3 Months!

…these are some of the sweetest words a cancer patient can hear after treatment. On Tuesday I had my follow-up appointment with Dr. Kipps to go over the results of my bone marrow biopsy. Even though the blood can be free of leukemic cells, a bone marrow biopsy is the only way to determine whether or not they are still lurking around in the bone marrow. Apparently most all of mine have decided to take a leave of absence. The results were so good that Dr. Kipps said he saw no reason that I needed to be seen for 3 months. End of short report.

There are different measures of how well a treatment has worked. There is a Partial Response, which means that your blood numbers are better, your lymph nodes and spleen have decreased in size, and some of the things like night sweats and/or fatigue have decreased or disappeared. The bottom line is that you are getting PARTIAL relief from the disease. From my first two treatments I got a partial response, but it was NOT complete. This time it looks like I got a Complete Response. In the 4 months since my treatment ended my blood numbers are almost all in the normal range, my lymph nodes have all disappeared and my spleen is normal. All of these point to a Complete Response.

However, the real measurement is a bone marrow biopsy. In the past I have had up to 80% leukemic cells in my bone marrow. Before I started treatment last year my bone marrow was at 30% leukemic cells. My results from the latest bone marrow biopsy show a .9% involvement. Dr. Kipps said that in 99% of the labs they would not even be able to detect this; but because the test equipment at UCSD is so advanced they are able to detect the smallest levels of involvement. This is almost NO leukemic cells at all, and is a GREAT response.

When the doctor says he wants to see you in 3 months; that means you are doing well. He thinks it will be at least 6 months before we will need to do anything. At the end of 6 months if everything is holding we will probably do another bone marrow biopsy to see if the numbers have changed. If they have, then we might look at a consolidation treatment or some other therapy. The main question that my clinical trial wants answered is ‘how long of a remission will I get?’. Because this treatment is new no one really knows, but for now, it is working very well.

I know it is only by the grace of God that I am where I am today. So many things have happened to me that have just ‘fallen into place’. I don’t think it was an accident I became a patient of Dr. Kipps. I don’t think it was an accident that I only got a partial response from the first treatments at UCSD. I don’t think it was an accident that I got into a clinical trial even after I was almost disqualified twice. There were many times in my 10 year journey that I wondered if I would live to see my kids get married. Now this year, two of them are getting married. I am truly blessed and don’t take that lightly. I have so many wonderful family members and friends that have supported me. Thank you all.
Terry