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Pleural effusion

Hi

 

I have been on dasatinib for over 2 years and 3 weeks ago I developed a pleural effusion .. I have been taken off dasatinib but two weeks on  following another xray nothing has changed.  They have decided to keep me off dasatinib unitl the 3rd Jan when I will have another xray to see is the lung has got any better.  My blood results  two weeks ago showed White cells 5.7, HB 13.00 plateletes 165  BCR:ABL?ABL ratio 00.003%.

 

My worries are all over the place - what if it doesnt get any better this time - could I have lung cancer etc 

 

has anybody else experienced this

Hello,
I have been on Dasatinib for nearly 3 years and for the past year or so have had pleural effusion. I have come on and off the drug for a while and even tried Nilotinib (never again) but it keeps coming back. My counts are a lot worse than yours (BCR 2.5)so they don't want to reduce the dose. In your case steroids may be the way to go to clear the lungs followed by a reduced dose of Dasatinib at 70?
K

Hi  Karena

Thanks for the reply, it sounds like you develop this around the same time as me on the drug.  They did talk about givng me a lower dose if it goes away but also spoke about imatinib, and briefly talked about draining the fluid. 

I do wonder if the pleural effusion was building up slowly - I got to the piont follwoing a cold that i was getting out of breath just talking in sentences, I was first put on antibiotics by the doctor as they thought I may have a chest infection, but after a couple days I went back as thought it was more than a chest infection and that was when they sent me for a chest xray

I know what you mean about having a cold making it worse - everything is an effort at the moment. I did have 2 lots drained for testing (the results of that are a whole different story!) but this time I am trying to keep going as long as possible before taking a break again (or using steroids).

Did the draining hurt - and what did the results say??  If you dont mind sharing that with me !!!

Hello
The answer is not really, they were only taking small amounts to check the fluid. Unfortunately the first time the fluid picked up some contamination in the lab and they thought I had Aspergillosis which caused a major panic and ended up with me on some very evil drugs that I didn't actually need! Ah well, its all good fun isn't it?! Went back to the hospital this week and bless them they have lost my latest blood results so these days I don't trust anything they say...!

Oh Karena that must of been very scary initially.  I am stressed just waiting to get some sort of answers , it must be doubley worse for you.   Hope they get things sorted soon. x

 

My only reward is that my consultant said I could drink as much as I wanted whilst off the drugs over christmas - so I suppose there is always a silver linning !!!!!!!!!!!!!

You should make the most of that! Have a glass (or 2!) for me won't you! Let me know how you get on with your results and have a (very) Merry Christmas
K

Merry christmas to you - yes please let me know how it goes with you too x