Good News Again
Stable:
Since April of 2016 my treatment regimen has been Pomalyst (pomalidomide) and Darzalex (daratumumab), with dexamethasone in the early months. That combination brought my IgG and M-Spike down to the lowest levels seen since diagnosis 14 years ago. M-Spike has not been above 0.5 g/dL since August 2016, and it was 0.5 again last Tuesday. IgG was 536 mg/dL, about where it has been for more than a year. This is wonderful.
The Darzalex protocol (with Pomalyst) calls for infusions once per week for 8 doses, then every other week for 8 more, and finally once per month " until disease progression. " ...
Source: Myeloma Hope - September 18, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: acid reflux daratumumab Darzalex GERD PET scan pomalidomide Pomalyst thyroid Source Type: blogs
Fight Aging! Newsletter, July 24th 2017
In this study, we asked how POD is influenced by different experimental practices and how likely it is that underpowered experiments lead to scientific disputes between two groups conducting identical experiments. To address these questions, we generated a parametric model based on the Gompertz equation using lifespan data of 5,026 C. elegans. We then used this model to simulate lifespan experiments with different conditions to determine how experimental parameters affect the ability to detect lifespan increases of certain sizes. We considered two important experimental features that contribute to the workload of lifespan ...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 23, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Newsletters Source Type: blogs
More Evidence for the Immune System to be Important in Exceptional Regeneration
It is becoming clear that the behavior of varieties of macrophage immune cells (including the microglia resident in the central nervous system) is important in regeneration, and may be one of the key distinguishing differences between mammalian species with limited regenerative capacity and proficient regenerators such as salamanders and zebrafish, capable of regrowing lost organs. It is too early to say whether it is possible or plausible in the near future to produce salamander-like regenerative in humans, but adjusting macrophage behavior appears quite promising based on the human research to date. The results noted her...
Source: Fight Aging! - July 17, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Reason Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs
‘Out-the-Door’ v. ‘Kitchen-Sink’ Asthma Management
Are you one of those clinicians who frequently finds himself frustrated with asthma patients who improve to a point but not enough to discharge home? Even though this has to be a common problem, no one seems to talk or write much about it. I was feeling deeply frustrated about these patients, and it led me to serious clinical introspection. Why does everyone write about the crashing asthma patient, but hardly anyone addresses the problematic patient with improving but recalcitrant bronchospasm?Most articles typically cover every available therapeutic option, including the proverbial “kitchen sink” for managing sever...
Source: M2E Too! Mellick's Multimedia EduBlog - June 1, 2017 Category: Emergency Medicine Tags: Blog Posts Source Type: blogs
More on cardamonin and myeloma
After months of being too busy with other stuff, such as…life!, to do much research, I have been going through PubMed again, yaaaay, and this is one of the studies, published in 2015, that really caught my attention: goo.gl/YgMY8O
You can actually read the full study online for free, at this link: goo.gl/muftiW
As my blog title suggests, it’s about cardamonin, about which I actually wrote a brief post
in February of 2011 (see http://margaret.healthblogs.org/other-alternative-treatments/cardamonin/). That post was based on a 2010 study, showing, and I quote, that “Cardamonin affects both the STAT3 and NF...
Source: Margaret's Corner - March 17, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Margaret Tags: Blogroll Alpinia katsumadai cardamonin myeloma Source Type: blogs
Revlimid, Darzalex and Dex
It’s been ages since I posted, but that’s because there’s been nothing new to report. I recently began treatment with one of the new-ish monoclonal antibodies called Darzalex (daratumumab, aka dara). In addition to Darzalex, I’m taking an older drug that I’ve used before, called Revlimid. Once a week, I take a 20mg dose of ... (Source: beth's myeloma blog)
Source: beth's myeloma blog - January 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Beth Tags: Darzalex Dexamethasone Revlimid Source Type: blogs
Revlimid, Darzalex and Dex
It’s been ages since I posted, but that’s because there’s been nothing new to report. I recently began treatment with one of the new-ish monoclonal antibodies called Darzalex (daratumumab, aka dara). In addition to Darzalex, I’m taking an older drug that I’ve used before, called Revlimid. Once a week, I take a 20mg dose of […] (Source: beth's myeloma blog)
Source: beth's myeloma blog - January 14, 2017 Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Beth Tags: Darzalex Dexamethasone Revlimid Source Type: blogs
Notes to myself – 2
Pentobarb coma – BIS should be 10-20 and SR (suppression ratio) should be 70-80
Consider lev albuterol
Should give vaccines after coiling of spleen or before if possible
No calcium channel blockers post MI definitely and post op in general
Toradol inhibits spine healing
Don’t do endoscopes with patients in supine position
don’t ambulate patients with known dvt’s. wait 2-3 days until clots get stuck.
dvt’s even with filter get heparin as much as possible for post phlebitic syndrome and to retard new clot formation
diffuse alveolar hemorrhage – secondary to chemo, goodpasture’s, wege...
Source: Inside Surgery - December 31, 2016 Category: Surgery Authors: Editor Tags: General Source Type: blogs
PET Scan Looks Good
Before I started the current regimen, a PET scan last April 9 displayed five different lytic lesions, three of them in the spine. Last Wednesday ' s PET scan showed that all five lesions are significantly decreased, and most are gone. One isn ' t even mentioned.This is excellent news. We knew that my M-Spike and IgG were down to about 40% of their April values, but that doesn ' t guarantee freedom from bone damage. With these PET results, we can be pretty sure that no damage is occurring. As we looked at the PET images together, Dr WG showed me a small chunk missing from a vertebra - looked like ab...
Source: Myeloma Hope - November 13, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: daratumumab Darzalex DEX dexamethasone lesion PET scan pomalidomide Pomalyst vertebra Source Type: blogs
Cases: Use of Steroids as Adjuvants for Pain Management
Conclusion:Although there is no definitive, absolute proof that use of dexamethasone as an adjuvant agent for symptom management does not confer a potential increased risk of infection, we do have literature indicating that steroids are used to help manage and treat certain infections, and that there has not been evidence of increased new infections when used in a single dose post-operatively. The clinical take away here is that it okay to consider the use of a steroid, especially in a low dose for a short period of time, in managing pain of an inflammatory etiology (such as pleurisy), and when compared to the potential ri...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - October 31, 2016 Category: Palliative Care Tags: cancer hematology opioids pain riegel steroids Source Type: blogs
All Good News
Friday, August 19, 2016:
Wednesday I brought a Mayo Clinic blood draw " kit " to the local clinic, where they drew the blood and shipped it overnight back to Mayo. Last evening the results showed up on Mayo ' s patient portal, and I ' m happy!
Since early April my treatment regimen has been 2 mg of Pomalyst every day, with infusions of Darzalex every week and then every other week, currently with 12 mg of dexamethasone (DEX) on the weeks between Darzalex infusions. During that time my IgG and M-Spike dropped about 20% per month until a month ago, then leveled off.
Wednesday ' s results confirmed that IgG and M-Sp...
Source: Myeloma Hope - August 20, 2016 Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: acid reflux angina colonoscopy daratumumab Darzalex DEX dexamethasone IgG M-Spike myeloma Pomalyst Source Type: blogs
