Still Undetectable

I have not written for quite some time so I thought I would provide an update since a lot of people have asked me about how I am doing. To sum up how things are going, they are really good. I went two weeks ago for my semi-annual check up with Dr. Stone. Last week I received the results from my latest PCR test and they continue to remain undetectable. While I was there I took a picture of the Healing Garden which is located near the cafeteria at the new building at Dana Farber. This was a nice urban oasis and I would recommend checking it out if you happen to visit the hospital.

The other news is that I dropped my dose of Gleevec back down to its original dose of 400 mg. Some of you may remember that my dose was increased to 800 mg several years back after one of my PCR tests started moving in the other direction. It turned out that there had actually not been an increase, in fact there was a decrease as I had another one taken before I started the increase to 800 mg. The higher dose pushed me into molecular remission pretty fast and wasn't horrible. I did have some side effects from this, however, including GI issues and my eyes were constantly tearing. Almost two years ago, Dr. Druker moved the dose down to 600 mg and last spring down to 500 mg. That was fine until the insurance company changed and started charging me two copays for the meds. Needless to say, Dr. Stone dropped me back to 400 mg and that is what I started doing last week.

Several people have asked my about the annual Light the Night Walk which took place several weeks ago. My team did not participate this year as we decided to take the year off from fundraising. We have been doing this great event for 7 consecutive years and I felt that it might be time to try something new. I am looking into the possibility of doing Team in Training for bicycling as that has become my latest hobby. I will keep you posted.

In summary, life continue to be good and CML is in check. Let's hope they both stay that way.