I've been off my chemo regimen for the past six weeks, but it doesn't seem to have done me any harm:
The last time I was tested was four weeks ago. Since then, I've gone from 0.76 to 0.79. That's nothing. And in this case, no news is good news.
Now that I'm back on the waiting list for the CAR-T treatment, I'll also be getting back to my old chemo regimen until they find a Carvykti slot for me. Unfortunately, that also means getting back on the Evil Dex. But the reason that's unfortunate is a little different than usual and has nothing to do with my sleep, which is already so disrupted that I'm not sure the dex will have much effect.
No, the reason it's unfortunate is that long-term use of dex raises your A1C level and makes you diabetic. I asked my doctor to run an A1C test last week as long as we were checking a bunch of other stuff, and after six weeks off the dex (and a modest diet change over the past few months) my A1C has declined from 10.6 to 6.4. Hooray! I'm sure it will go back up when I start taking the dex again, but this result suggests that it will go down considerably when I finally get the CAR-T treatment and (cross your fingers) am off the dex for good.
And when will that be? No one knows. Probably another 2-4 months.
Fingers crossed, KD.
Thanks for letting us know....but what is A1C???
OK, I looked it up--basically it is a measure of the hemoglobin in your blood that has been glycated by the sugar (glucose, hence the term glycated)
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/9731-glycated-hemoglobin-test-a1c
A1C serves as a measure of your average blood sugar over the last 60 days or so. Healthy levels are considered to be 5.6 or lower. 6.5 or higher is considered diabetic. Levels between 5.7 and 6.4 are labeled "prediabetic". I find it interesting that my A1C levels have been rook solid stable at slightly "prediabetic" for seven years now. Virtually everyone in my age group (late sixties, early seventies) I have talked to about A1C is "prediabetic". Could the whole "prediabetic" thing be an effort by big pharma to sell more drugs?
The great irony of our medical system is the fact that if your cholesterol is 10% above an artificially low number your doctor and probably your insurance company will harass you to take a statin. Altering your cholesterol with drugs has never been shown to decrease your risk of heart attack, read the package insert from any cholesterol lowering drug. At an A1C of 5.6 you already have increased risk of heart disease, kidney failure, neuropathy, and Alzheimer's disease. Yet doctors are content to tell their diabetic patients to get their blood glucose down to an A1C of 7.0 which means their blood glucose is double the normal value of 83.
Continued good news Kevin. 🤞 Fingers crossed for a sooner than later Car-T slot. What is the old chemo regimen you refer to?
Chin up. The great cat in the sky will bring it all together.
Here's hoping for a Carvykti slot very soon!
Kevin,
Is your diabetes being treated? Healthy A1C is below 5.0. I'm an LADA Type 1 diabetic and I keep my A1C at 4.8. The key is eating a low carb diet and I wear a CGM so I can carefully manage my insulin injections. Continuous hyperglycemia increases your heart disease risk by a factor of 10 and triples your risk of Alzheimer's disease.