My husband was diagnosed iwith MM in dec. 07. His Kappa free light chain went from 389 to 66 after one month on rev/dex. After 3 months it was down to 33 and No detectable m-spike in urine. He went off rev in preparation for harvest and it went from 33 back up tp 60 with still no detectable m-spike. The mayo says they now want to add cytoxan and growth factor to prep him for before extraction in 2 weeks. Has anyone else had this happen? Why the cytoxan now? Â
Anyone used doxil instead? What are cytoxan side effects. He is 55 and very healthy and athletic. We have 2 young boys and quality and longevity are of equal importance.
God bless you all.
Teresa
Hi Teresa-Â
I underwent two rounds of cytoxan in preparation for my auto stem cell transplant. The reason I was given at the time was because the five rounds of VAD therapy had not lowered my levels enough. I now have "irritable bladder-" a side effect of cytoxan therapy.
This does not appear to be the situation in your husband's case. With his kappa light chain levels at 60 with no detectable m-spike I don't see why one would want to undergo any more chemo of any kind.
Full disclosure- I believe that toxic chemotherapies are damaging to the body. I don't believe that a survivor should undergo a bmt at all if there are other options available.
Studies are being published (many cited in the therapies archives) documenting the benefits of low dose combination chemotherapies- velcade, revlimid, thal, dex, etc  There is plenty of data pointing to a healthy, athletic 55 year old survivor diagnosed only six months ago acheiving a life expectancy of 10 years or more without undergoing a sct.
And these studies only look at the effect of novel therapies and do not take into account any of the complimentary therapies discussed on this site- nutrition, supplimentation, detoxification, etc.- again, look into the archives.Â
Oncologists must act on averages (65 year old) and standard protocol.Â
I would not undergo any more chemo pre-sct and I would save a stem cell transplant as a last resort. JMO David
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