white blood count

Thanks for the information you gave me about white blood counts. A bit more information about my son's (Steve) battle with this disease.  He is 56 yrs old and was diagnoised 6 yrs ago. He has had two bone marrow transplants and after the last, three yrs ago, he went into remission, The remission ended 6 months ago. He is now on Revlimed and a steroid 5   days a week and off two. He has been on this for 2 months and has had to go off it twice for a week at a time due to side effects. His doctor only has one other pt on this drug and admits she is not very familiar with it. He has "blood work" done twice a week and his WBC is down each time. Six weeks ago it was 8. He still works at this job of 36 yrs and it is with the public which concerns me due to infections out there and he does handle money on his job, another avenue for bugs to invade his body. He is now in constant pain and  on Oxycontin twice a day. Not sleeping over 2 hours at night and very, very tired. Anyone out there on Revlimed? Or are familiar with this drug as we have not been told much about it.

Thank you for listening

His mom, Irene

From Anna,

Hi Supportive Mom, Dad has taken Revlimid and is getting ready to start it again.  Its been a year since he's been on it. So right now I don't remember the side effects he's talked about except it can cause blood clots in some people. They watch him for this.  

As far as your son's sleeping goes he might ask his Dr. for sleeping pills.  Especially if he's on a steriod during treatment.  Dad takes them all time now though so he can sleep.

Your son is an adult but he does need to careful not to get sick. He might have a harder time fighting off things cause the cancer and the treatment lowers one's immune system.

Your friend,

Anna

Dear Irene,

I was on Revlimid for about 6 months prior to my last transplant and It was actually the best I had felt in years. I think I was a little off mentally while I was on the drug but I felt great. I know there are some people that dont do well with the drug but I had a good experience with it. Your son needs to get some sleep. I havent slept very well since the last transplant and I finally tried Lorazepam and it has helped alot.

All the best,

Mike

Hi

I've been on Revlimid and Dexamethasone since Dec. The Revlimid gives me no side effects at all!! It's as if I'm not even doing chemo.

The Dexamethasone, however, is another story. I got so sick in April because of the dosage (40 mg. once a week), that I began to fall down, had a fever, a very bad bout with bronchitis, the shakes, sweats, you name it.  The dr. took me off it for awhile, but the last time I went for tests, my IGA protein level had gone up a bit, so I've been back on Dex (20 mg. a week) for a month now.  I'm starting to get the sweats, but that's about it.

I would ask your son's dr. about the dosage of the steroid. I'll bet that could be preventing him from sleeping, too. I always have trouble falling asleep on Thursday nights.

Good luck to both you and your son.

Mary Ann

Hi, again.

I forgot to ask another question. Does your son go to a Multiple Myeloma specialist? It seems strange that his dr. is not that familiar with Revlimid, as it is a front-line drug which is very popular. A lot of people on this message board are either on it or were on it at some point in their treatment. Make sure he is seeing a specialist.

Mary Ann