Congrats! Is she on the FLAG protocol?

Yay! Thank you God for hearing our prayers.

Karen

Yay! Prayers for your sister!

Patience and prayers paid off -- thanks for keeping us up on progress -- hopefully things will continue in a positive way -- daveB

Debbie,

That is so great news! Those platelets are stubborn little brats sometimes, don't I know. So glad that Jo can see the light at the end ofthe tunnel

Julie

Good news indeed, prayers that the next treatments go well, and lead to the cure for Jo.
DaveJ

Thanks everyone! She was feeling so well and her numbers had risen enough that she was given the ok go to a small place near our home for New Year's Eve with music and dancing. There was no smoking. She didn't get to dance a whole lot but it was great for her and Mike since it was their 25th wedding anniversary! So glad she was feeling well enough to celebrate!

Amesch1, I'm not sure what her protocol is called. She was on an intensive chemo trial at MDA but it apparently was way to strong for her body because she was taking so long between each round to rebound, even when they lowered the dose. They have now switched her to a less intensive chemo that she does for 4 days in a row every 3-4 weeks - or it was supposed to be 3-4 weeks. She has still taken 2 months to get her platelets back up with this less intensive chemo. It may still be a lag from the previous stronger chemo; however, It is better than the 4-5 months it was taking on the stronger one. I will have to ask her if it is called FLAG.

I just finished at MDA in October after 7 rounds of the FLAG-IDA protocol. It was a beating getting that much chemo, but compared to where I was a year ago I feel better (I was diagnosed Feb. 14,2014).

I'm not sure what my sister's was called at MDA. She started in Jan. 2014. After induction, she would go as an outpatient to MDA for a dose of chemo and then they would send her home with a pump that would start later with another type of chemo. After 3 rounds of this treatment, she was supposed to be admitted into MDA to get the third type of chemo added for that round (they said it would be hard on the heart and that is why she would be admitted for that third type chemo addition) but she was never at the point number wise that they thought she could handle the third type added in and they switched her to the less intensive chemo. She does that locally (we live about 1 1/2 hours from MDA) and then just follows with her doctors at MDA right before each round of the new chemo. Does her beginning protocol at MDA sound like what you did?

I was inpatient for my first four rounds. This was more of a personal choice and not mandated. I did my last three rounds outpatient. I had cytarabine and fludarabine on every single round and then I had idarubicin added on my induction and fourth consolidation (5th round total). My fifth round easily made me the sickest and weakest. Idarubicin is some nasty stuff.

Well, Jo had her check-up yesterday at MDA. Not sure if I should call it good or a maybe. They are going to decrease the new chemo's strength by 25%. Jo was in the hospital around Thanksgiving for 2 1/2 weeks and they determined that since they could find no infection, this was due to her reaction to the new chemo she had just received. The doctor is lowering the dose for this next round so that hopefully she will not get so sick. If she continues to get really sick with the chemo lowered, they will discontinue chemo.

This sounds good because she would be done and into recovery but since they had to lower the doses of the first intensive rounds of chemo she got and now they are having to lower the dose with the less intensive chemo, it makes me worry whether she has had enough to keep the AML from returning. It's hard not to worry but I try to look at it this way - she has at times gone 3-4 months in between treatments waiting on levels to return so it seems that if the AML were going to come back, it would have then. I will consider the cup half-full and think of it this way.