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Vidaza, keep going or stop
Mom is 85. She started on Vidaza beginning of May. Her blast count was at 11. After the 4th treatment, the blast count was at 16. AND the doctor decided she should not get any more treatments. She did let her take the 5th Vidaza treatment. THE last 6 weeks or so, mom was getting sicker, she was exhausted all the time, slept on and off throughout the day, and hardly eating... BUT the last few days, she definitely has a little more appetite, more energy, not sleeping as much. And seems happier.
Could it be that now the Vidaza is working? Should we ask the doctor to keep giving her Vidaza, or do another bone marrow, or any advice is welcome.
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Hi @dindazz It sounds like your mom is at a crossroads in her cancer treatments. Even though Vidaza is a somewhat lower intensity drug often used by older adults to treat blood cancers such as MDS or AML, it can still impact the entire body with nausea, fatigue and generally lower blood numbers all around. The mission of the drug is to destroy the cancer cells (blast cells in this case) so that they are not in competition with the healthy cells. Eventually, blast cells if left to proliferate unchecked, will crowd out healthy blood cells which isn’t sustainable for life.
The symptoms you’re describing for your mom, with feeling sicker, fatigued and no appetite, from my personal understanding of chemotherapy, wouldn’t be out of the norm for treatment. But it can be debilitating and if your mom wasn’t seeing any improvement in her blood work and was having an increase in blasts despite the meds, her doctor then recommended to stop the treatment for now.
It may be that your mom is feeling better and peppier because her body is starting to recover from the side effects of the Vidaza. Subsequent blood tests will be helpful in checking to see if there is an increase in her blast cells or not. I’m not sure if a bone marrow biopsy would be required because blasts will show up in peripheral blood work. In healthy people, blasts are seldom found in blood tests. So when they are found in the blood it’s an indication that there is an over abundance in the marrow.
What will be telling are your mom’s future blood tests. The doctor will use the results as a basis for a decision to restart Vidaza or another med or hold treatment if it will really not be
a benefit her.
How often does your mom have labs? If you wouldn’t mind sharing, what is your mom’s diagnosis?
I replied above.
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1 ReactionHello, THANK you very much for your reply. Mom has full labs every four weeks, but often gets more quick lab work to check on Hemoglobin levels, etc. She has had an average of one blood transfusion every 1 week to 10 days. The Eprex shots are helping for sure.
I was wondering if your mom was on any other meds besides the Vidaza. So thank you for sharing a little more information about her treatment. The Eprex she’s receiving helps to stimulate red blood cell production.
Her next full set of labs will be helpful to her doctor to judge the level of response of stopping the Vidaza and whether to start again. In the meantime your mom has had an opportunity to recover on this break from the chemo med. Vidaza wasn’t a drug I took but I know from experience, each round of chemo required more recovery time between cycles.
Was your mom diagnosed with MDS?
What blood test shows the number of blasts in your blood?