I started the Rev/dex EAP trial on the 11th of January. I’m just about to
finish my first cycle. I’m on my 3rd dex pulse and have I think 3 more days
of Revlimid to take before I have a week off everything. On February 8th,
I’ll have my first SPEP and quantitative Ig tests done to see how I’m doing.
I have had one CBC done, just Wednesday, to check how my counts were being
affected by the drugs. My CBCs, as usual, were all in the normal range. I
have only had a very few times in the last 3 years when I was mildly anemic.
It appears that the Revlimid isn’t having any impact on my WBC or platelets
(or anything). I’m hoping that will remain the same.
On dex, I have high blood sugar. It stays under 200, so the doc doesn’t
want to treat. I have been increasing my exercise quite a bit so I can keep
that blood sugar down. Of course I watch my starch intake and avoid sugar
while on dex. On non-dex days, my blood sugar is normal.
The Revlimid has been ok so far. Just a few problems. The first 3-4 days I
had a pretty bad headache. It was enough to keep me in bed, under the
influence of Excedrin, Darvocet, Ultracet and Xanax. Sounds a bit over the
top, I know, but when I have a headache it can turn into a monster if I
don’t use all the drugs at my disposal. :) On days 3-6 I had diarrhea and
stomach pain. After that, things settled down mostly. Now I’m having
constipation, which is nothing I’ve ever had before! I have to say, it’s no
fun. I’ve been downing the fiber and today picked up some herbal tea that’s
supposed to get things going. When I was on thal, I never had that problem,
but was told to expect it. So, this is a surprise for me. I even put fruit
back into my diet, which I had been avoiding because of the sugar.
Typically, I have a lot of vegetables.
That’s it for me for now. I’ll be sure to post my Ig’s and m-spike when I
get them. Going into the trial, my IgA was 2445 mg/dL and my m-spike was
1.2 g/dL. When I was first diagnosed in Jan 2003, my IgA was 4625 mg/dL and
I had 2 m-spikes of 2.8 g/dL and 0.6 g/dL. I think the lowest my IgA has
been 781 mg/dL in September, 2003. That was when I was on thal/dex. I’m
hoping for as good or better results from Rev/dex. :)