My name is John Doerr and I am part of the zero club (#753 I believe). I live in St. Louis, MO.
* I will turn 47 in 15 days * DX on February 13, 2002. (My oldest (of 3 boys and 1 girl) boy's 16th birthday, real bummer) * Started on 400 mg Gleevec March 11, 2002 * Bumped to 600 mg in October 2004 * Achieved the zero club in April 2005 * Had a stem cell harvest (just in case idea) June 2005. Was able to harvest over 3 million in two days. * Had a HIV false reading scare in 2006. (Results of the harvest preparation testing) * Started having Fish and qPCR tests every six months starting in April of 2006. Until then I had been having BMB and Aspirations every six months. * I have had most of the side effects but they have died down in recent months. However when they do occur, they are really bad. * Add to the fact that I am an Asthmatic and allergic to Aspirin and therefore can only take Tylenol for pain but then Tylenol is not good to take with Gleevec because of problems that can occur with the liver... it has been a long 5 years. * I do have several possible anonymous donors available (none of my 4 siblings were a match and I could not convince my 77 and 78 - in 2002 - year old parents to have another sibling...haha). * I have been released from the Siteman Cancer Center (BM Transplant team, Dr. Adkins) because I am doing so well. * My Onc. is Dr. Glauber who I like very much. Spends all the time you need with you and is always going the extra mile to make sure everything is OK. My question is: How often should I be having a BMB and Aspirations? I know that the combination of the Fish and qPCR are much better than the BMB/Aspiration itself. However, I have heard that you should still have the BMBs every once in a while. When is that every once in a while? Or are they not needed because of the efficiencies of the FISH and qPCR? My last BMB was 18 month ago...should I be asking for one this time around? (The good news is my doctor believes in conscious sedation when doing BMBs so not to bad to have done.) Thanks for you answers in advance. God Bless you all! It is kind of funny; the first song that popped into my head (once it stopped spinning from the news) was "Keep pushing on" by REO. It has never left my head since. When I was first DX, I just wanted to make it another year and did not know if I would see any of my 4 kids graduate from high school. Now after seeing my oldest graduate from HS, get his associates in criminal justice, go to work for the 911 center with plans of being a Policeman and get married last month, I now feel I will not only see my 13 year old girl graduate from high school but college as well. It has been a hell of ride these past five years! Then again that song pops in my head and I just keep pushing on each and every day and enjoy life as best I can. John --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ [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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
