Gene’s update: Sat. March 27, 2010

Outpatient Chemo! Gene stays home till transplant (hopefully)!
We went in this morning for blood and updates. No transfusion needed today. Neutrophils are up to 0.3 (although they could be leukemic cells, doc said they still do the job for now). On Monday they will start a new drug, dacogen, which is intended to keep his leukemia “at bay” until the transplant, which hopefully will be end of April-early May. So the protocol for this drug is 5 days a month outpatient, once a month. Although they don’t really expect this drug to put his cancer into remission, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Dr. Miller said that with the in-depth genetic analysis that they now have identifying so many different sub-types of leukemia, they don’t yet know which types may respond to newer drugs. So, a way to be hopeful, visualize the next miracle. If Gene is in remission when he receives the transplant, the outcomes are better. Dr. Miller emphasized that the identified donor is still a “potential donor” until they have been fully screened. But they are moving forward as if transplant will happen in 4-6 weeks.

I asked him if they’d decided if the transplant would be myeloablative (wipe out the marrow, total body irradiation-best possible outcome) or non-myloablative (no total body irradiation, not as damaging to the recipient, but less favorable outcomes). He said they had not yet decided, it would depend on if they think he could tolerate the myloablative at the time.

So this week, we’ll be going to the hospital from about 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM for bloodwork and chemo, then home. After that, if we avoid infection or complications, staying home until transplant, or another treatment four weeks from this one. I am hopeful that after this chemo Gene will get some energy back, because he has been at a pretty low energy level for about two weeks now, sleeping a lot, not wanting to walk or do much. Good excuse of course: lots of good basketball to nap in front of!

When I asked specifically about the decline that I see, doc said that considering his condition he was doing pretty well, and it was not outside the normal range of what we’d expect to see from someone whose leukemia has not responded to treatment. So, I guess I’m supposed to be reassured by that. He has been sleeping well, and lots of naps. We’ve got a chocolate calorie shake going. His official hospital weight is 122, with his jeans on. So that is officially less than me….

Several of you have asked about visits and you are welcome to visit us at home….but let’s just take one more day of rest, and then see how he is doing with the chemo. I’m on break for the next two weeks, so once we aren’t spending the day in the hospital, visits will be great. And even next week, if Gene is tolerating the chemo well, which they expect him to, we can do evening visits. I’ll still have my cell on, 858-337-5358, and the home phone is 858-292-5358.

So overall, a positive place to be, home, with good hope on the horizon!
Gail