Hi all and blessings, It is my 3 year Anniversary also. I started on Gleevec in Feb of 2004 and I'm also alive and kicking hehe. Normal well, no. Everything I do has to been done with my meds in mind and all the side effects and etc so it is continually with me no matter what I'm doing. I try to be a normal as I can but I don't feel normal. In the beginning I was sooooooooo tired and had these awful sores. I started taking vitamins, eating yogurt, black strap molasses and anything I could think of to improve my blood Hemg but it is never normal; always a little low but not to bad. Now, I have the dryness in my skin, nose and also have skin tabs that I never had before. My nose is so dry but I've been taking flax oil and I think it is helping. So after 3 years I think my body is adjusting to the Gleevec, and I hope it will keep on keeping on. On the brighter side, my cholesterol has come way down, my eyesight has improved and my blood pressure is in the normal range. Can I say the Gleevec has done this? Maybe. We just don't know enough about the drug to say. So as we test this drug let us keep the faith and hope they come up[ with a cure soon. I believe they are on their way to finding a cure so hang in there everyone. I would like to hear from all the 3 year CML'rs. Jeanie<3 In a message dated 2/16/2007 9:57:52 A.M. Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Dear Suzieq, Warm congratulations on your 3 year CML anniversary! I am so glad that you are leading a normal life. Roy's PCR also does bounce up and down, he is 5 years on Gleevec. His doctor still tells him to do a bone marrow biopsy every year but according to recommendations from OHSU's Dr. Deininger, a bone marrow aspiration is recommened every 12-18 months for patients with low disease load. So, you can go 18 months without one. Now, the reason doctors still recommend BMA (since a PCR does give a measure of the disease load and from a simple blood draw) is because the PCR test cannot look at other chromosomes like chromosome 8, chromosome 7, etc. and see whether they are normal. Some patients on Gleevec have developed abnormalities in other chromosomes while in CCR with Gleevec and the reason for this is not known by the doctors but if a patient does develop this, doctors like to monitor the marrow more frequently. Roy is doing his next BMA at 18 months instead of 12 months. Keep us posted on your PCR results, Suzieq! Love, Anjana caregiver to Roy On Feb 15, 2:45 am, "Suzieq" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > It has been three years since being diagnosed with CML & then put on > Gleevec. It has been some journey to say the least.......but, I'm > still alive & kicking and living a somewhat "normal" life, for which I > am very "thankful"! I visited my doctor a week ago and counts all > looked very good according to her. She said that the only thing she's > noticed is that my PCR test is up and down in this three years of > Gleevec. She said that all that does is tell them that if I went off > the Gleevec, it would immediately come right back. The genetics tests > they just took should be coming in next week, so I will be anxious to > see what it says this time. > > One thing she said has me a little bit concerned and I thought I would > mention it here and see what the "group" says........I asked when she > would want to be doing another BMB as it will be a year this July 10th > since the last one. She told me that we didn't need to do them as > they could get all the test results needed from the "drawn" blood. > Now, any other time that would be "music to my ears", but it causes > me to wonder "is she right on this?" I've read so much here in this > group about the importance of these tests.......so, should I be > concerned? Any information would be most helpful. I will be posting > my results when they arrive. Thanks! > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [CMLHope] A support group of http://cmlhope.com ------------------------------------------------- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CMLHope" group. To post to this group, send email to CMLHope@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/CMLHope -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
