Idarubicin and Cytarabine

[ACorvino]

Has anyone had any experience with this drug combo with AML? I have read a lot about the clinical responses to the combo, but would like to have some feedback from patients or caregivers in regard to this therapy.

My FIL was diagnosed with AML with 29% blasts. All of his counts have been low for the past two months. He was administered Dacogen for almost a year, and things were going pretty well, but it stopped working and everything has been a nightmare ever since. His blasts increased drastically within 30 days after stopping the Dacogen treatments.

He recently finished up his first treatment of Idarubicin and Cytarabine, and now we wait for the plateau and the next BMB to see if there is any change. We are remaining hopeful. Today his WBC is 0.8, HGB 9.8, and he has become platelet resistant. After every platelet transfusion, he is back to 0 the next lab draw. For the HGB to be at 9.8 is actually pretty good. He was getting transfused every 48 hours and he would be back at 6+ in that time frame.

Long story short, I would love to hear experiences with this chemotherapy drug combination. Good, bad .. side effects. Anything that you would feel comfortable talking about. I would rather hear personal accounts rather than reading clinical stuff.

Any information would be greatly appreciated.

God Bless and many prayers going up for anyone suffering from or caring for someone suffering from this horrible illness. I love reading success and happy stories. Please let me have some!