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CAR-T Cell Therapy: Introduce yourself and connect with others
Bone Marrow Transplant (BMT) & CAR-T Cell Therapy | Last Active: 6 days ago | Replies (224)Comment receiving replies
To All
I am in my 5th cycle of VRd. I took a 2 week break after cycle 4 to harvest stem cells for storage. I was able to complete the harvest in one 4 hour apheresis. I will be randomized for CAR T cell therapy as part of a clinical trial after my 6th VRd cycle. Velcade is causing severe constipation and neuropathy. I am treating the constipation with daily Miralax and Colace. This usually doesn’t work so I take RX Constalose every other day. It is pretty aggressive. The neuropathy is primarily in my feet. Worse at night but still manageable. I am taking gabapentin but I can’t tell if it is helping. My hands are still pretty good. Overall I’m doing ok. My m protein has dropped to .2. It was 2.56. So the chemo is working. I’ll update when I find out if I will be doing CAR T.
Replies to "To All I am in my 5th cycle of VRd. I took a 2 week break..."
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I was randomized to Car T in my trial. The trial is to compare Car T to VRd as an initial therapy for multiple myeloma. I had my Car T infusion on Oct 16. I was hospitalized for 10 days with one grade 1 fever. After being home for one day I fevered again and was hospitalized for 4 more days. Since then I’ve had no more CRS and no neuro-toxic reactions. I was returning to the cancer center every other day for bloodwork and evaluation. On the 11th of December I was changed to monthly observation. My monoclonal protein went to none. Not even a trace. My bone marrow biopsy still showed some plasma cells but no increase. I will have another bone marrow biopsy in January. I am hoping for MRD negativity. I am still immuno-compromised. So I stay home and don’t expose myself to others. My neutrophils are normal but my lymphocytes are still .28. This is as a result of the pre-infusion chemo. It is slowly getting better. I am scheduled to have all of my vaccinations in January. I feel great. I went to the driving range (empty) and hit balls yesterday and have been spending some time on the exercise bike. I’m a high risk myeloma patient due to a heavy tumor load at diagnosis and p17 del so getting to MRD negative will be encouraging. I am fortunate to be able to have this trial as an upfront treatment.