Going on from here

Since my counts haven't recovered, we've stopped pretending that I'm going to get my fifth and sixth cycle of FCR. It has been rather stupid the way the infusion center has been handling it; I've gone in three straight weeks, been hooked up to the IV line, and then they draw blood, find out my counts are too low, then they apologize all over the past and are sad my counts are horribly low, etc., then I change plans and go into work. I should have gone in the day before, had a blood draw, then they could have called me

I go to the infusion center prepared with a giant bottle of Gatorade (2 liter), partially frozen to stay cool all day, a few of my 'Issac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine', which I have been buying in bulk from e-bay. It's a lot cheaper than to buy the latest versions, so I save money. It's also interesting to read a magazine from the 1980s, when Reagan was still president, Islamic terror attacks weren't a problem, gas was $1.25 a gallon, when Asimov was alive, when I didn't have cancer....

The stories are timeless, though. There are some topical references of course (computers weren't as ubiquitious in the 80s, there was no internet, 'green' meant what you ate for dinner, and so on). But by and large, the stories remain quite readable and enjoyable. Asimov's is one of the primary place for future award-winning stories and authors to appear. Some are clunkers, of course, but many are enjoyable and a few outstanding.

It makes the time go by quickly and pleasantly. Sometimes my wife sneaks a treat into my backpack. This time, it was M&Ms. Thanks, Sweetie!

Getting back to the CLL... I see the local onc doc (who I guess is a hematologist, but who sees, obviously, few CLL patients) on Monday. We will discuss what to do from here. My guess is...nothing. I suppose we will track my counts for the next months, pray I don't get sick, and just soldier on until the inevitable happens.

My counts are truly terrible. My neutrophils were only 0.5 on February 2, 0.9 on the 9th, and back down to 0.6 on Wednesday the 20th. My platelets have never recovered either, but truth be told, my platelets haven't broken 100 since about 2006, when I had the high-dose methylprednisolone plus rituximab. (I was looking at some old test results I've kept, and my platelets shot up to something like 876 for one test, before settling back down to the low 100s, and then declining from there. Currently, they are in the low 70s. Everyone else besides the onc doc freaks at those numbers.

Oddly, my hemaglobin has remained decent. Below normal (what else is new) but decent. As I remember they are about 12.5 or so. Certainly no difficulties at this point in time with that.

My abdominal nodes are still there. I don't think they've changed one bit during the FCR. My other nodes have largely disappeared, which is nice. I HATE having nodes. I hate it. It's an ever-present reminder of my disease. I acquired the 11q deletion after the HDMP+R trial I as on in mid-2006. Not a pleasant thing to have. The abdominal nodes can be quite painful at times.

I have been tired, but that's something we CLLers always face. I have been trying to do a bit more exercise, since that is important for over-all health and can't hurt as I try to get my marrow to recover.

I see the CLL expert in San Diego in late March. I was supposed to have finished the six cycles by then, but obviously that's not going to happen. I want to ask about maintenance therapy. Many papers have suggested that rituximab, Campath, or Revlimid can be used to help prolong complete and partial remission. Sometimes, maintenance can even push a partial remission into a complete one. I'm not a candidate for Campath with my 'massive' abdominal nodes, and Rituxan would probably be nixed for that as well. Revlimid may be a possiblity, and since they've lowered the dose to 1/10 what they started out with, side effects have declined and tolerability has improved. This is my preference as of now.

I also am scheduled for a bone marrow biopsy in San Diego. I will pray that it comes out improved, or at least not gotten worse. It's going to be a stressful time, not only psychologically, but physically since the biopsies have gotten more and more painful as time has gone on. I hope I can get some pain medication this time!

FCR Ain't a Happening Trip Right Now

I'm out of the FCR treatment now because of low counts. This is a problem for many, since fludarabine can damage the marrow. Many people don't get beyond the fourth cycle, the local onc doc says.

As memory recalls a year ago, one famous CLL doc at MD Anderson told me when I got a second opinion, 'younger' patients such as myself (now 58) don't have as rough of a time as older patients do, and I should have no problem completing the full six cycles.

I have had two different courses of therapy before, so that might account for the difficulties I'm having now.

I am going back yet again next week to see if my counts have recovered enough to have the next two cycles, but to be honest, I'm losing interest in FCR.

The problems with fludarabine are legion, and eventually they will sell the drug to clean out wheel bearings only. It's way too hard on the marrow, it is so immunosuppressive that they have to irradiate the blood they give you, for fear that the few stem cells you'd ordinarily (or potentially) get in a transfusion would start re-populating your bone marrow, giving you a bad case of mis-matched transfusion leading to all sorts of problems. That's why, though, it is a good drug to give prior to a stem cell transplant.

The various docs who have opined that FCR could cure CLL are, of course, wrong. When one looks at a survival chart, there is no plateau, no levelling off of the death spiral for CLL patients.

We must look elsewhere for potentially curative regimes. FCR ain't it

I did not get in to the lumiliximab trial after all. They have enrolled only one person at UC Davis. I developed a cold or upper respiratory infection and I was booted out of the trial.

However, my CLL has gone into overdrive, with a projected doubling time of only three months. Therefore, I was offered standard FCR or rituximab plus revlimid. I was really hoping for a second enrollment in the ISF 35/Memgen trial at UC San Diego under Dr. Castro, but there has been a long delay. It is just now enrolling.

(The thing they are most excited about are the 17p del CLL patients. The results so far have been promising, and the theory that a few cycles of Memgen followed by FCR might result in decent remissions for this hard-to-treat population.)

So I'm disappointed that I didn't get into a trial, but I'm more disappointed that I did not have the option of going on the ISF-35, multiple injection trial.

FCR+L Trial

A lot has happened since my last post. I've been trying to get into the FCR+L trial since May, and I finally am supposed to start on Sunday, September 22, 2008. (There is a wrinkle; I've just developed a cough, so I need to have that checked out before I start the trial).

I was notified on Thursday that I have been randomized to be in the arm of the trial that includes the lumiliximab. Lumiliximab is a CD-23 antibody. It works in a fashion like rituximab, but the CD-23 marker isn't as good of a target.

The difference is that the CD-20 marker is a transmembrane protein; it pokes part of itself outside of the lymphocyte, and keeps the 'tail end' inside of the cell, in the cytoplasm I would assume. The way these markers work is they are the 'eyes and ears' of the cell, sensory organs if you will. The marker detects a signal outside of the cell in the microenvironment, and then signals inside of the cell.

Being a transmembrane molecule, the CD-2o marker is a robust one, hanging on the the cell (in large numbers, in the thousands), resisting falling off and becoming useless. The CD-23 marker, unlike the CD-20, is much more easily dislodged from the cell, and a detectable fraction of the markers are found in the microenvironment. This makes the CD-23 marker less effective at killing CLL cells.

The hope the company who is pushing this MoAB through clinical trials is that it will enhance standard therapies. Small studies have suggested that this is true; the complete remission rate with FCR+L is higher than plain old FCR.

I am scheduled to start the study this coming week at the University of California, Davis Medical Center. Although I've gotten all of my treatment so far from UC San Diego, I opted for UCD this time because the trial protocol they offered me allowed either MRIs or CT scans. Anyone who knows me knows that I dislike CT scans because of the amount of radiation, which raises the risk of secondary malignancies, a complication CLL patients are already at higher risk for.

The secondary reason is that I live in Sacramento, and this will mean not having to fly down to San Diego for follow-up visits and all six cycles, assuming I would get that far.

As far as my general health goes, I am fading, but not at a fast clip. My biggest problem is my anemia. I am in the 8.8 range at last test, and this is not normal. Even the government will pay for Epogen if the hemo rate is below 10.0, which I am.

My other numbers are terrible, but sort of holding steady. WBC at the 200,000 range, platelets (always a problem for me) at about 75, and the red blood counts, as I've mentioned, a continuing problem.

My latest test should be on my fax machine when I get home tonight, so I should know if I need a transfusion in the next day or two.

My biggest problem right now is this cough I can't get rid of. Dr. Hamblin believes I should wait before I start the trial, and I am inclined to agree with him.

I think I got this latest infection (I've been remarkably infection-free even with terrible numbers, until this year, and I've had three infections since January) from using a neti pot. This is a device that allows you to pour salt water from one nostril into the other, draining stuff and supposedly keeping you clean. However, I made the mistake of just using tap water, which is not sterile. I usually boil the water, but just forgot.

This cough has now settled into my chest. Well will see what happens.

Still Waiting

I'm waiting for approval of my MRI imaging studies before I can enter the FCR+lumiliximab trial at UC Davis. The trial coordinator is Dr. Tuscano, who was nice enough to speak before the Sacramento CLL patient's group in 2006. He has been working on his own antibody, but I've not heard whether anything will come of it. It looks to be a less than rousing success, but the delays may be due to funding or other administrative problem.

So I'm in a holding pattern, in more ways than one.

One development is that I'm going down to UCSD to see either Dr. Kipps or Dr. Castro. We will see what is happening with my run-away CLL. I am less than happy with the skyrocketing counts that are not, so far, really apparent except in my large abdominal nodes. I don't feel any changes, still working full time and in the evenings seven days a week. Haven't been back in the mountains since I'm now anemic and I don't want to give myself a heart attack by hiking. Energy level has been dropping, but I'm sleeping fairly normally.

Lumiliximab is a CD23 antibody. CD23 is not expected to be a slam-bang MoAB like rituximab for the simple reason it doesn't seem to has as much killing power.

The most recent study and the reason I think Dr. Kipps has recommended this study to me is that the complete remission rate is almost 50% in previously treated patients, which is a very good result. Overall response rate is 95%.

There are two arms to the study, and you don't know what you are getting into before you sign up. You do know once the treatment is underway, so I will get at least one FCR course if I am accepted into the trial. I have more negatives (low platelets, etc.) than I did before trial number one and two. The more things wrong you have with you, the less likely they will choose you to be in their sample. They do want a success, and some folks have been accused of 'cherry-picking' patients that they think will do well for a particular trial.

It's such a game; a game with deadly consequences for the patient, at least.

I saw an oncologist at UC Davis regarding the FCR+Lumiliximab trial (a word she cannot pronounce accurately). This is the same trial which was offered (recommended?) to me by Dr. Kipps. However, Dr. Hamblin calls this trial just a 'marketing scheme,' a phrase that I don't understand. I'll have to write him and ask him to explain.

I don't want to use fludarabine, of course, since it is linked to significant T cell suppression, secondary malignancies, premature death and a whole host of other problems. Once you are refractory to fludarabine (and you will become refractory), then they are no real options left for you; make sure your affairs are in order!

I was more interested in the lumiliximab trial (which is a randomized phase II trial, somewhat rare) as offered by UCD over that of UCSD, since the trial at UCD offers the option of MRIs instead of CT scans. Funny that the same company would have different protocols for different institutions. I did e-mail the company complaining that MRIs would be just as effective as CT scans at tracking the disease. The company MD who replied to me said it would be up to the trial administrator. However, the written protocol is different for the two institutions.

I'll keep this blog posted as to what happens.

CLL Rampaging Out of Control!

Since my last post, all hell has broken loose, and my CLL is out of control.

My last blood test on June 19 had my WBC declining by 20k or so. I expected at least only a modest rise, if any, based on how I felt.

Wrong!

My numbers have gone sky-high, from about 30k to over 176k, in one month. I guess this qualifies as doubling in less than six months.

Thank goodness for blood tests, because I wouldn't have known I was going downhill so fast without them.

We've decided to treat as soon as possible, with something. We've decided that I should get a blood retest this week. I've been putting it off because, well, ignorance is bliss??? Isn't it???

With all the new knowledge and the prospects of better treatments in the next few years, why is this going so quickly downhill for me? That's just the way it is.

If CLL has taught me anything, it has taught me that we are all dying, some of us have it thrust in our faces every day, others only know it as an abstract thing. I used to confront this like the rest of the world, as a distant possibility; not now.

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We don't know if it's Richter's transformation, rapidly progressing CLL, a new cancer, or something else.

My only 'B' symptoms is that I'm tiring a bit earlier than I was a few weeks/months ago.

I'm not buying extra supplies that I might need 'someday'. That's a waste of money.