Good News
We got the results today of Marian's CT scans and PET scan yesterday. In Dr. Flinn's words, "Everything looks good and your PET scan was stone cold normal."
This means that her CLL has not transformed into something more aggressive and there is no secondary cancer causing hypercalcemia. Really good news.
Marian resumed CAL-101 at a lower dose tonight. She is now taking 100 mg. twice a day instead of 150 mg. twice a day. Her WBC is down to 17.3. A huge improvement from the number prior to beginning treatment (53.8). Her other numbers were about the same today as they were last week.
She gets to stop taking Cipro and Prednisone as of today. She will continue on Valcyte, Fluconazole and Dapsone. Valcyte is an antiviral to protect her from CMV infections. Fluconazole is an antifungal. Dapsone is an antibacterial. When the fungal culture comes back -- if it's negative -- I'm assuming she will get to stop taking that too.
She will have to have her blood drawn weekly for a couple of weeks to keep a close check on her CMV and calcium levels. CMV is one of those viruses that most of the population is exposed to. But it lies dormant in our bodies just like herpes zoster (chicken pox/shingles) and then gets activated in some people. It is more likely to become active in an immunocompromised patient.
We still don't know for sure that the hypercalcemia and pneumonia were related, but Dr. Flinn said it is a logical conclusion at this point to believe they were.
So with no transformation and the good response to CAL-101, it appears that Marian just needs to regain her strength, put on a few pounds and get on with living her life. : )
This means that her CLL has not transformed into something more aggressive and there is no secondary cancer causing hypercalcemia. Really good news.
Marian resumed CAL-101 at a lower dose tonight. She is now taking 100 mg. twice a day instead of 150 mg. twice a day. Her WBC is down to 17.3. A huge improvement from the number prior to beginning treatment (53.8). Her other numbers were about the same today as they were last week.
She gets to stop taking Cipro and Prednisone as of today. She will continue on Valcyte, Fluconazole and Dapsone. Valcyte is an antiviral to protect her from CMV infections. Fluconazole is an antifungal. Dapsone is an antibacterial. When the fungal culture comes back -- if it's negative -- I'm assuming she will get to stop taking that too.
She will have to have her blood drawn weekly for a couple of weeks to keep a close check on her CMV and calcium levels. CMV is one of those viruses that most of the population is exposed to. But it lies dormant in our bodies just like herpes zoster (chicken pox/shingles) and then gets activated in some people. It is more likely to become active in an immunocompromised patient.
We still don't know for sure that the hypercalcemia and pneumonia were related, but Dr. Flinn said it is a logical conclusion at this point to believe they were.
So with no transformation and the good response to CAL-101, it appears that Marian just needs to regain her strength, put on a few pounds and get on with living her life. : )
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