August 2003
Hi All!
Wanted to share the latest with you. We went to Boston today for Dave's 3-1/2 year check-up. Everything is fine. During our visit in March, the doctor lowered Dave's dosage of Gleevec from 400 mg to 300 mg daily, and talked about stopping it altogether. He wanted to monitor Dave to make sure nothing showed up at the lower dosage. So far, everything looks good. The regular blood counts are fine. We won't have the molecular blood test results back for a month or so, but are expecting normal results (in this case, everything should be negative). We'll go back for Dave's 4 year check-up in March, at which time the doctor will do a bone marrow biopsy (ouch!). If the results of that are normal, or negative, he'll have Dave stop taking Gleevec and start monitoring his blood counts more closely.
Allison
September, 2003
Quick update - Davešs August tests came back with inconclusive results. Dr. Soiffer is not sure what it means, raised his Gleevec to 600mg to be safe. Will need another biopsy to recheck Davešs marrow. Have to go back in 3 months.