When Vidaza stops working

[maueenh]

My dad had a cbc when he went to the doctors today for a cold and his counts have dramatically fallen. We have noticed the counts have been on a slide for a couple of months and we were going back to the 4 week cycle starting next week. His wbc was 1.3, rbc 2.5 and platelets were 34. What has been the experience of others when vidaza stops working?

Thanks
Maureen

[katiebear]

Maureen,

I can only answer about my experience watching my Dad when the Vidaza stopped working. His counts were all over the place for a couple of weeks. He went in February for his BMB before his transplant, and his blasts were at 12%. I believe a week and a half after that his blasts were up to 50%. He didn’t feel any different though, so other than his counts being funny, he had no other symptoms. I wish I could be more helpful. Take care.

Katie

[sdrake]

Maureen,

My Dad has been on Vidaza for over two years. After almost a year of treatments, his wbc was very low and his hgb was 7.3 at the lowest. I was very concerned that the Vidaza had stopped working. Dad had two transfusions during that time, and his shots were delayed for some time due to his low wbc. It took a while but his counts came back up. Those were the only transfusions Dad has had. We all feel very blessed that the Vidaza has continued to work.

Take care,
Shari

[Russ P.]

Maureen, the disease and individual response to chemo is so varied, I would recommend a consultation with Dr. Raza at UMass in Worcester.
See: http://www.umassmed.edu/hema_oncology/statement.aspx
She could devise a specialized treatment plan for your dad.
Russ

[maueenh]

Thank you all for your replies. We are scheduled to go back to Dana Farber on Wednesday and I’m sure they will do a BMB. Dad is on the borderline of needing a tx but we will wait until Wednesday.

Shari-I read dad your reply and he was encouraged.

Russ- I have considered calling Dr Raza before and maybe now it’s time.

[Terri]

Bob has been on Vidaza since End of 2003 and a short period of 7 months off since but Just recently had his dosage increased as his Bone Marrow was getting packed and the disease progressing. We have so many ups and downs but the doctor still feels this is the drug of choice for Bob. The higher dose he definately felt a diference on his body, However His counts held enough for us to take a week vacation. We enjoyed it so.
We go Monday to see his counts again his Whites have come back down near 20 the Plts are the concern and I plan on direct donating as Single doner plts are much better but sometimes OUr hospitals can not provide it.

[SandyB]

When you all say that the Whites fell for a while, how long do you mean? Mike’s have been down to the 1.5 area for about 8 weeks, and so his Vidaza was suspended.

This followed an ear infection and hospitalization.

The Dr. is waiting for them to come back up to resume. How high were they when Vidaza was resumed for your loved one?

I am very concerned, as Mike has gone into AML, once before.

[sdrake]

Dad’s doctor wants his ANC to be around 1500 before he starts his shots. It most often takes Dad about 5 weeks for his ANC to get to that point. A couple of times when Dad’s ANC was low for a longer period of time the doctor reduced the dosage.

Shari

[SandyB]

Thanks Shari. I really appreciate your input.

Sandy

[Nancy CROSS]

My husband was to have his 11th cycle of vidaza and his anc was too low 2 weeks ago at 320 to treat. His anc did come up this week to 430, but was still too low for vidaza. Does a drop like this in his anc mean that he is experiencing vidaza failure? I asked his Dr. and her reply was maybe not. Has anyone experienced drops like this and it was not failure?

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