Hi all,
I thought is to be a good idea to give an update on my progress, after having taken my last 400mg Gleevec on 30 May 2009.
As you may remember the side effects of Gleevec after five and a half were really becoming a problem, with eye bleeds every other week. This was the main side effect that I experienced, but left me feeling like a freak when out in public.
My Haematologist agreed to let me take a Gleevec "holiday" as I had an "not detected" status for the previous 3 years using the QRT-PCR tests. I agreed to have QRT-PCR tests done every 3 months.
Herewith my results to date:
19/08/2009 Positive BCR-ABL 0.00083%
15/10/2009 Not detected BCR-ABL 0.00013%
06/01/2010 Not detected BCR-ABL 0.00024%
15/03/2010 Positive BCR-ABL 0.0011%
08/06/2010 Positive BCR-ABL 0.0065%
10/09/2010 Positive BCR-ABL 0.0005%
My next test will be due at the end of December and I will see my Specialist in mid January 2011.
Although my last test seems to prove that my last result improved, one must take into account that this is an "amplified" result and a slight error will thus result in a skewed figure. But that also applies to all the other test results.
So many conclusions can be drawn from the results, including that my immune system has been able to cope with the disease to a large extent. My relatively stable results proves this. This past winter I started taking an immune booster as the Anti Flu injection was not available in South Africa. The results was that I did not even have a sniffle whilst surrounded by Flu infected family members.
BTW. My FBC's have all remained normal over this period.
I must stress that I am not part of any Trial at all - this is purely a once off thing which I embarked on with the blessing of my Haematologist.
Please feel free to post on this thread, and I will attempt to answer any questions that are raised.
Best wishes to all the "club" members out there.
Kind regards