Hi all,
Been on Glivec for 1 month and off to see Haematologist in couple of days, what if anything should I have achieved after a month please. I believe ideally haematological response, eg normal bloods, will I get any idea how the Imatinib is going at this point or is this only via a PCR test at 3 months.
Any info would be great. Thanks Nigel
Hi Nigel
I'm quite new to all this myself so i am sure others will have better advice but i can share my own experience so far. After a month of Glivec i had reached Heamatological response but i don't think you should worry if you havn't. As far as i am aware you can only see if the Glivec is working by your PCR, i have mine every 3 month's. Good luck with your appointment hope all is well.
Naomii x
Hi Nigel
The general guide is to achieve complete haematological response within 3 months though many do it well before that. So, if all your counts are normal this time that's as good an indication as you can have at this stage that imatinib is working. At 3 months when you will have a PCR result, that will give some indication as to how well it is working. It's a little hard to tell even at that stage as people respond at different rates but hopefully you will see a decent drop - you should ask your consultant what the PCR at diagnosis was since this will be your baseline against which response will at least in part will be measured. If they don't have that, they should.
Good luck. Richard
Hi Nigel
Sounds like I'm around the same timing as you- I've been on the Glivec 3.5 weeks precisely and had my clinic meeting yesterday with my consultant. You're right it's all about looking at your bloods and checking it is at the right level or moving in the right direction. My consultant also gave me a physical check - more blood samples, check on spleen, liver and a conversation re: how feeling on the tabs any side effects as you'll have an indication my now although I hear that if you do have side-effects they do lessen over time. A good thing I've picked up from others on this forum is that it is good to ask questions and record your counts- think it is helpful to be proactive . My consultant seemed pleased when I asked and wrote them down for me. I already knew my white count as I've had weekly monitoring so down from 285 wbc to 15.5 in 17 days which they said was fantastic, platelets were a little higher than norm but he thinks should be following on now. Its early days but hopefully you'll hear good news. There is a post on the forum somewhere from Sandy re:what to ask for - breakdown/baseline of blood measurements and I think I've read it in the FAQ section on here which gives you a bit of further background. Hope that helps anyway. Jo ;)
Thanks all, glad going well Jo, yes seems we ar same point, i'm at docs tomorrow after 4 weeks Glivec, will see how the bloods are.
Keep up the good work ! Nigel ;)
