October 16, 2006

Well, we left off in my last update where I was placed on a drug called Dasatinib because the study drug, AMN 107, quit working. I’ve been on 70mg of the Dasatinib twice a day since September 22st. People who have become resistant to the study drug (like me) have had a good response to the use of Dasatinib.

I had another bone marrow biopsy on October 11th. The preliminary results indicate that, although my blood is clearing of the leukemia, there is not much improvement in my marrow. I will be increasing my daily dose of Dasatinib from 70mg twice daily to 90mg twice daily. I’m not looking forward to this because I’ve had some pretty nasty side effects at the 70mg level.

Where do we go from here? If the higher Dasatinib dose affects an improvement in my marrow, then I’ll keep going with the Dasatinib until the leukemia is down to a level low enough to start the stem cell transplant. If not, then the only option left is chemotherapy. We should know in 2 weeks which option is next. The doctors are not going to waste much time on the Dasatinib unless there is a substantial change very soon.

Thanks for your prayers. This has been a long road and your prayers have really been instrumental in sustaining me. I can tell you from my experience that God works through the prayers of His people.