Our
optimism about the decitabine took a nosedive today. Although David went
through the fourth round without hydroxyurea, today the white blood cell counts
are up again: from 8.93 last Thursday to 18.39 on Monday and a whopping 46.07 today.
Yes, we’re back to doubling in 3 days. He’ll take 2 gram/day of hydroxyurea
again and discuss clinical trial options on Monday. The hydroxyurea can keep
the white blood counts low in the short term, but since it doesn’t attack the
leukemia factory in the bone marrow, it can’t cure the leukemia.
He had another echocardiogram
today: his heart’s poor ejection fraction barred him from certain clinical
trials back in August. We hope he has recovered sufficiently to be eligible for
a trial now, since the conventional treatments have not been effective in
achieving remission.
He also had a bone marrow biopsy
today. It was originally scheduled to assess the effect of the decitabine, but
based on the blood draws we can see it isn’t working at this point. The
clinical trials require biopsies to assess eligibility, so Judy took extra
samples for those. We’ll get the preliminary results on Monday, as well as the
echocardiogram results.
Jim and I are planning a trip to
the Midwest starting 28 March. Originally we envisioned a road trip so that
David could come, but he can’t be away from MGH for more than 5 days, so we’ll fly,
see Annie in Madison, and Matt and Charlotte in Chicago. If Matt can arrange
his schedule, we’ll drive to Wabash College in Crawfordsville, northwest of
Indianapolis, where Matt is an admissions officer.
|
Date of Blood Draw (CBC)
|
White Blood Cell Count
|
% Blasts in circulation
|
Absolute Neutrophils
|
Hematocrit (red blood cells)
|
|
13-Feb-15
|
3.53
|
31.0%
|
0.39
|
19.40
|
|
19-Feb-15
|
5.89
|
30.0%
|
0.47
|
22.40
|
|
23-Feb-15
|
10.02
|
25.5%
|
1.60
|
21.20
|
|
26-Feb-15
|
9.97
|
53.0%
|
1.20
|
18.20
|
|
2-Mar-15
|
5.48
|
32.4%
|
0.51
|
24.40
|
|
5-Mar-15
|
4.09
|
28.6%
|
0.97
|
22.90
|
|
9-Mar-15
|
5.40
|
30.3%
|
1.14
|
20.40
|
|
12-Mar-15
|
8.93
|
60.0%
|
0.54
|
26.10
|
|
16-Mar-15
|
18.39
|
56.0%
|
1.84
|
23.60
|
|
19-Mar-15
|
46.07
|
67.0%
|
4.15
|
21.20
|
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