Maintenance Cycles 11 and 12 complete.. That’s a wrap!
I had my last Carfilzomib infusions on Thursday/Friday Jan 31/Feb 1, ending Cycle 12 of my planned maintenance. I was pretty wiped out after the last one, and I’m glad to be taking a break from this stuff. Mostly the dex. That stuff just wrecked me.
So quick recap of treatment so far:
Dec 2016 — Jan 2017, 2 partial cycles of RVd, two surgeries (back, leg)
Feb 2017 — May 2017, 4 cycles of KRd (Achieved Complete Response in June)
June 2017, Stem Cell Transplant
Oct 2017 — Jan 2017, 4 consolidation rounds of KRd (achieved Stringent Complete Response)
Feb 2018 — Jan 2019, 12 maintenance rounds of KRd (Still MRD positive as of August 2018 @ 24ppm)
Each cycle is 4 weeks.. Early on, I’d get injections two times per week for three weeks, then one week off. After the SCT, all of the cycles were two cycles with injections two times per week every other week.
The plan from here out is to continue Revlimid maintenance.. (not sure the dose/cycle yet.. It will either be 15 or 10mg, and 21days on/7days off, or 28 days continuous)
As a next step, I had a scheduled Bone Marrow Biopsy today, which will give my MRD (Minimal Residual Disease) results and possibly inform the next step. As always, that wasn’t fun at all, and my normal nurse who does these has left the practice to go work for a pharma company. The new nurse wasn’t bad, though, but the drilling seemed like it lasted forever. She said that the Zometa (bone strengthener) seems to be working. Speaking of Zometa, they gave me my quarterly dose as I was recovering from the biopsy.
The results come back usually in 2–3 weeks. My next specialist appointment is March 5, where we’ll lock it down. Assuming I still have MRD, I have my eye on a few clinical trials I may be eligible for, which I’ll discuss with the doc.
