In Little Rock, they simply commence treatment. If however, you are like most of us, and you have a general oncologist treating you at diagnosis, and your doc doesn’t refer patients to Little Rock, you are put on some sort of “oral” chemotherapy in the interim before SCT. (Stem Cell Transplant)
Thalidomide is the drug given to women in the 50s for morning sickness that produced a huge number of what became known as “flipper babies”. The birth defects were so profound and widespread that the drug was pretty much banned worldwide. Needless to say I was a little taken aback. Dave had no clue, but boy I did. Well it turns out that several years ago, some scientists in Israel started playing around with it and discovered it did some amazing things in the blood cancers. It was one of the huge turning points in the treatment of MM patients. So as long as Dave wasn’t getting girls pregnant he was in the clear to use it. Each month he has to answer a questionnaire with some group at the Federal level about his sexual activity. Our doctor apologized, but it was the rules. I laughed and said, “Well, if he gets some girl pregnant, I will be pretty mad. If he gets me pregnant I’ll be REALLY MAD!”
Dex, better known as dexamethasone, is a steroid. Dave would have to take this on and off through his treatment regimens. It started out 4x a week and then eventually it became 1x a week. It would make him hyper and he would lose his voice. He became emotional and angry at the drop of hat over perceived wrongs that in reality didn’t exist. But we had prepared ourselves and did all we could to suck it up and let it go. It was not easy.
The Thalidomide made him tired and he would take it at night. The dex was like speed, so he would take it in the morning. Dave had a VGPR (Very Good Partial Response) on the Thalidomide/Dex within 30+ days of treatment starting. VGPR is one step below CR which is Complete Remission. Not a bad response at all. We were pleased.
Dex affected Hamada very badly. A very difficult time it turned out to be when he was on the dex regime. He would retire for the night, only to get up again an hour later and pull back the drapes, lift the window blinds and start to open all the doors.He wanted to walk the lanes in the middle of the night! Most unsettling. One day in hospital when still on Dex he got up and took his suit from the closet and started to put it on over his PJ's amusing for the nursing staff! but a great worry to me! I think I hated the Dex, more than any steroid.
Hi Lori,
I can relate to the dexo rush. I don't know if Dave likes sport on TV but I used that as a dexo stress outlet. My teams were angels, anyone else copped a gobful. First time the neighbours thought we were having a domestic!
It's on this link:
http://supersidnz.blogspot.com/2009/06/dexamethasone-for-myeloma-side-effects.html
You are correct, if we know what the side effects are we can cope better.
Good health.
Sid