Induction Chemo

[jaxem]

kami
I dislike trials. If there are other methods available, use them. I’d go with induction chemo your doc recommends for 2 reasons: (1)I dislike trials, and (2)he can get the chemo near his home with loved ones seeing him at a good institution with his own doc who sounds sensible. My wife did MEC at age 67 which was tough on her and brought her blasts to 8 from 18%. She also did 2 rounds of FLAG which did nothing. I recommend you go back a page on this Forum to review Cheryl’s post on Clofaribine and try to get in contact with her and her husband’s trial with it. Good luck with the decision with your dad.

[Jo L.]

Kami –
What is happening with your father? I think this was your last post, so I’m wondering how he is doing. You were asking about Dacogen – have you decided to try it?

Jo L.

[kami]

Hi Jo,

No, we went the inductive chemo route. With 40% blasts in his marrow…the doc said that there would be about a 25% chance for remission with just Dacogen.

With inductive chemo(according to the doc) the odds were at 51% or higher. Not great, but better than 25%…
He is currently at UCSF hospital, he checked in on the 24th of March. He finished his last round of chemo on Monday.(the ETOPOSIDE treatment)

So far he has tolerated the treatments pretty well…but the next 10 to 14 days are the critical windows because he essentially has no immune system right now.

After that we’ll have to see if the treatment was even effective. I’m hoping that he’ll fall into that 51% category.(My 4 month old boy needs to know his grandpa!)

Dr. Ravandi at MD Anderson and his doc… Dr. Damon at UCSF spoke about the trials they had at MD. Anderson…and I think they felt that the best course of treatment under the circumstances were that he should stay in SF and get inductive chemo

HOWEVER, Dr. Ravandi did mention that he has patients even MORE advanced than my dad who are experiencing a full remission in their DACO/Vorinostat trial…some food for thought I guess?

Apparantly this course of treatment isn’t nearly as hard on the body as the inductive route.

One thing he did emphasize was that… I’m quoting here “I unfortunately don’t have the magic bullet that you look for”
He said that there were no guarantees, someone could cometo Houston and do horribly in their trial..yet flourish through inductive treatment.
It all depended on the individual.

Per Jack’s advice as well…having him in his own environment; we felt was also important for his recovery… and for our family and his friends.

Only time will tell.

How is your dad doing on the clorfarbine?

[kami]

Jo,

I apologize, I was thinking of cheryl when i asked how “you’re dad was doing on clorfarabine”

it’s been a long tiring 2 weeks…i don’t know where my mind was.

how is your husband doing on DACO?
Have you asked your Dr. about doing a combination treatment with one of the H-Dac inhibitors(vorinostat, valporic acid…?)

[Jo L.]

Kami –
John’s blood tests have shown steady improvement in all lines. The HGB was over 12 for the first time in as long as we can remember! He still has the drop about 14 days after the treatments, but it doesn’t go as low. Other than some really bad headaches and some weird fluctuations in his blood pressure, he’s been really fortunate to not have bad side effects.

I did ask the Dr. about the HDAC inhibitors, but he is reluctant to change things just yet, since John is doing so well on just Dacogen. I just wish there were a CURE for this awful disease.

Jo L.

[kami]

Jo,

That sounds VERY promising(knock wood)…ironically my dad’s doc(early on) had the same mentality with the combo treatments. If one treatment was working…why mess with it. As the saying goes…”if it ain’t broke, don’t try to fix it..”

Sooner or later something will come out to treat this god for saken ailment. If they found Gleevec for Chronic Leukemia…they’ve got to find something for MDS and AML. Sooner or later it will happen. In the last 2 yrs alone 2 new drugs have hit the market for MDS. THere will be more!!

Keep us posted on his progress…give us some MORE good news girl!

kami

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