Reporting back at the end of Cycle 1. 'Revlimid & Dexamethasone'.
Unlike Velcade – where you take a set number of cycle based treatments until you are declared in remission and then go out into the world, treatment free, until you relapse – Revlimid & Dexamethasone is a continuation therapy… (a therapy not a chemotherapy) you take your tablets and hope for the best.
My Red Blood Cells (HGB) have dropped a full point from 10.7 to 9.8 and my Neutros are down a bit from 4.0 to 2.6 since my interim bloods a fortnight ago but my White Blood Cells (WBC's) at 5.0 and my Platelets at 147 are good – these are the four test results that I look to to measure my responses to treatment… and my consultant is happy that I have got through the first cycle with no worrying downwards trends or any other indications of a mismatch between me and my therapy.
The Rev is shown to be working with the evidence of my ratio dropping from 17% down to 5% and my Kappa Light Chains, which stood at 311 at the start of treatment, have dropped to 146. So all well and good with a continuation of anti-biotics and two-week interim checks on the bloods into Cycle 2… rolling onto Cycle 3 and, if at that juncture all is then still well & good, we will deemed to have established a successful relationship between man and drugs… at which point I will keep on taking the tablets until further notice.
This how it works in the world of Rev & Dex.:-)
Dai.
