Vidaza and lowering of counts

• Author
  Posts
• December 31, 2006 at 3:18 am #16570
  SandyB

  Member

  Mike has run into some trouble. They are going to put him on Vidaza. ( It seems as though the AML Remission has relapsed).

  His counts are currently: WBC 1.7 Hemo. 10.3 and Platelets 18.

  I have read others accounts on their results with Vidaza, but don’t believe anyone mentioned supportive care received. (Please forgive me if I just didn’t catch it).

  Has anyone else had these low of counts when they started the drug? What did they do to counteract them during treatment?

  January 1, 2007 at 1:08 am #16571
  Terri

  Member

  Sandy, Bobs Hemo is always in the MID 10’s His plts were in the 20s but they did the radiation on his spleen and now they stay in the 40’s still low but no bleeding prbs. The whites are always high for Bob around 20.

  His counts seem to hold and do not falter with the Vidaza the only one that does come down is the Whites we are grateful for. He has had to have one tx since August. So basically he is doing ok, per my other post doctors visit in Dec gave him an excellent report.
  We count our blessings daily.
  I hope Mike has a much success as Bob has had with Vidaza.

  January 2, 2007 at 5:11 pm #16572
  maueenh

  Participant

  Sandy,

  When my dad first began Vidaza his counts fell and they administered both Procrit and Neupogen. He had to have a few txs but his counts all recovered in approximately a month. His counts have been improving since.

  Maureen

  January 4, 2007 at 5:07 pm #16573
  SandyB

  Member

  Thank you Terri and Maureen. This drug seems promising. We are still waiting for official BMB results.

  Thanks again,
  Sandy

  January 6, 2007 at 6:58 am #16574
  Sandy L

  Member

  Hi Sandy B.

  Mike had a good response to Vidaza as well. He took Zofran ODT before the shot and then Marinol after the shot – which made him sleep for 2 hours. Then he got up and went to work.
  The site area where the injection is given gets very red. He would ice the area for 15 minutes after the shot and that did help. They need to constanting mix the serum in the tube or it will be to thick to go in the skin. Towards the end. they used a longer needle which they said worked better and the site area was not as red. He used both arms, sometimes the stomach, and sometimes the thighs.

  What was the ARA-C Maintenance? Did he ever have induction chemotherapy or were his blasts not that high?

  I will be praying that your Mike gets a positive response from this drug. It gave My Mike a good quality of life for over a year.

  January 6, 2007 at 11:51 pm #16575
  SandyB

  Member

  Sandy:

  Mike not only had full induction chemo, he also had 1 consolidation. Achieved 100 % remission.

  He did have three Maintenance Chemo with Ara-C injections, along with Mercaptapurine pills. It started dropping his counts too much, and now his counts have fallen further, and we are waiting to hear results of BMB.

  I will email you personally with induction process he went through.

  We think of you often, and appreciate your concern for us at such a difficult time for you.

  Sandy

• Author
  Posts