My Marrow has been "Chewed Up" by FCR

I saw a CLL doctor for yet another opinion, this time a doc at Stanford. We discussed my situation, especially in light of Dr. Kipps' recommendation that I start a search for a donor for a much-feared stem cell transplant (the survival figures are not as high as I'd like).

I had to wait over an hour to see him, which seems to be par for the course for busy CLL types. I gave a brief rundown of my history, and the fact that I've had four treatments; HDMP+R, ISF-35 (direct nodal injection), the idiotic FCR, and flavopiridol. According to his labs, the slight improvement in my numbers noted at UC Davis has disappeared, but I think some of that can be ascribed to different labs. I like Davis' lab, because I always have better numbers there.

He said there were two drugs in trials at Stanford that he likes for CLL: Cal-101 and another drug that he didn't even mention the name/number of. Something like PCI something or another. I'd pass the name along, but he didn't pass it along to me. (Searching the web I do find two candidates: PCI-32765 & PCI-45292, both Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase inhibitors.)

We then talked about why my marrow has never recovered. The doc said my marrow was 'chewed up' by FCR. I asked if there was anything I could do to make it better. He said, 'no'. He also said, 'they never mention that when they publish glowing reports about FCR.'

So, in addition to a heightened risk for Richter's tranformation, and myelodysplastic syndrome, our non-friend FCR can 'chew up' your marrow. Wonderful. Apparently, FCR has left me with a permanently scarred and chewed up marrow. Sweet!

The doc is going to send me the protocol for Cal-101, which he seems to like a lot. It apparently doesn't give many people a complete remission, but it does help shrink swollen lymph nodes.

Besides my chewed up and spit out marrow, the abdominal nodes may or may not be making a comeback, so this might work well. We will see. I see Dr. Kipps soon as well. And, joy, I get another bone marrow biopsy! That will make number 16. I wonder what the record is? I wonder if I have any marrow left in my hip after all of the sucking and drilling?