[gcoulterParticipant]

Hi

My wife has just been told she is likely to start the new Daratumumab treatment regime after her paraprotein levels have started to rise three years after her STC.

It’s great to read on here it’s working well for patients. From the pieces I’ve read on the forum, the first couple of treatments seem to take all day to check for any reactions.

However I was wondering if someone could set out what is involved, the combination of drugs at hospital, what has to be taken at home and how often, how often are the hospital visits, how many cycles to expect, etc.

I’ve started a new topic as I suspect others will be asking the same question as it’s a new treatment option and there’s not much info on it at present.

Thanks,

Graham

[gcoulterParticipant]

So as my wife has now started her Dara treatment I thought I would answer my own question and have it here for anyone else who is searching for an answer to this at any stage (I appreciate this might be slightly different depending on where you are being treated).

Each cycle is 3 weeks
Initially there are 3 x 3 week cycles (i.e. 9 weeks in total)
Dara on days 1, 8, 15
Velcade on days 1, 4, 8, 11
Dex on days 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16
For the first Dara treatment, it was a 2 night stay in hospital. The first night was to “check in”, and the 2nd night was to monitor for any reaction to the Dara. After that it has been a day patient treatment which has taken from 10am to 4pm.

After this there is a series of 5 x 3 week cycles
Dara on day 1
Velcade on days 1, 4, 8, 11
Dex on days 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 12

Then the cycles will be every 4 weeks
Dara on days 1
Dex on days 1, 2

In relation to the medication taken at home it is basically the same as the first round of treatment, anti-viral, sickness etc, the one difference is that there are no little injections for blood thinning which were required for the Thalidomide.
We’ve also been given a blood sugar measurement device which has to be used for the 2 days after the Dara treatment.

Hope this helps someone.

Graham

[Anonymous]

Hi Graham,

I hope all went well for your wife on her Dara treatment and thank you for your helpful info’ above.

I started DVD in January this year and you’re right, the regime seems terribly confusing at first. For anyone reading in the future, I have two small tips that helped me:

(1) Make a chart so you can tick everything off as you go each day (my husband – who is into spreadsheets – made a brilliant one for me). This includes the treatments given in hospital and the drugs taken at home.

(2) Keep your medication all in one container. I got a handy blue case that I think was designed for cosmetics but it had movable dividers so it worked to fit in the different pill boxes and I kept my thermometer and the treatment chart in there too. It was small enough that it could be locked away (if children in the house) and in pre-Covid19 days it was so handy if we had to go away anywhere as it was one vital thing to remember! More importantly, I had one admission into a non-oncology ward for an infection and it was brilliant to grab the medicine case and go.

I was impressed by DVD and my paraproteins went to <2 which I am very happy about. It sounds as if it will be even better with the new injection that is coming out in place of the long infusions.

Hoping all is continuing well for your wife and best wishes to anyone reading this and undergoing DVD treatment in the future.

Rachel

[lucyhParticipant]

Hi Graham and Rachel. Thanks for starting a post on this. I’m interested to see what others say too as my husband is at first relapse and has been told he’ll have DVD before a second stem cell transplant, though his consultant said it would be injections of the DARA rather than infusions. He’s done the VD part before (Velcade and Dexamethazone) but the DARA is something new and a bit unknown. Thanks for sharing your feedback and I’ll keep an eye out in case others comment too.

[gcoulterParticipant]

Hi Lucy

Glad you found it useful.
There are a couple of other threads, which a couple of people posted updates during the treatment, and the maintenance afterwards.

2nd line treatment – DVD regime

Darzalax DVd Maintenance

Good luck with your journey.

Graham

[pennylawsonParticipant]

Just starting on DVd now so very useful to read this thread, and the other two on DVd. My regime is a bit different from the one set out above, guess they tweak it for different people. It is quite complicated so have done my own handy spreadsheet for what to take when, thanks for the tip Rachel.
Will post updates as I go along, great to have the support from this forum.
Penny

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