[Sonia]

Low blood counts & fever after starting RVD Lite

by Sonia on Wed Nov 07, 2018 8:17 am

Hello

My 83 year old dad has just started a week of Revlimid, Velcade, and dexamethasone (RVD) "lite" and by the 7th day blood test, his WBC and Platelets had fallen sharply

Our doctor advised a week's break from the treatment and a Neupogen injection. My dad now has a fever of 100 degrees F (37.8 C) and we have to start him on an antibiotic.

I am so stunned that after just one week of the "lite" RVD protocol, my dad has to take a break already and get on to antibiotics for 5 days.

Is this common, or due to his age should I mentally start accepting that even the "lite" protocol may be too much for my dad?

I am so very sad.

[Todd]

Re: Low blood counts & fever after starting RVD Lite

by Todd on Wed Nov 07, 2018 9:07 pm

Sonia,

I can share some of my experiences. I too developed a fever and saw my blood counts seriously drop off after the first week of Revlimid, Velcade, and dexamethasone (RVD) in the Spring of 2017. I was advised to take a break for a few days until my fever broke. I restarted and did not experience another fever during that regimen.

Fast forward to the fall of 2017, a relapse required me to start on Kyprolis, Revlimid, and dexa­meth­asone (KRD). I again experienced a fever about a week into everything. Again, a few days away until everything settled and I was able to restart without any further issues.The treatment was shortened due to it's ineffectiveness but during my time on KRD I did not have another fever.

Now we're into 2018 and I'm on Darzalex, Pomalyst, and prednisone for maintenance after an autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Once more, a week after starting Pomalyst, along came a fever...

During all three, my blood counts were continuously low. Occasionally I still need a Neupogen shot before my Darzalex infusion due to low WBC and especially my ANC.

I will be rooting for your father. Hopefully his experience will be similar to mine.

Todd

[Sonia]

Re: Low blood counts & fever after starting RVD Lite

by Sonia on Mon Nov 19, 2018 12:30 pm

Thanks for sharing your experience Todd. I appreciate the reply.

My dad's fever finally broke after 7 days on Augmentin (amoxicillin and clavulanate). He needed 2 Neupogen shots to get his white blood cell count back up (haemoglobin and platelets were still pretty low).

Our oncologist has stopped all myeloma treat­ment as she wants him to regain his strength and have all counts back up. We've had a blood test today, so we are keeping our fingers crossed we can start treatment soon. My dad is just so fatigued. He sleeps a lot every day.

The doc is now pulling Revlimid off and going to have him on Velcade and dexa­meth­a­sone only as she feels he may tolerate this better. Let's see how that goes!