Kyprolis - 1st and 2nd infusions

Last Thursday April 30 Doug had his first Kyprolis infusion.
Cycle 1, day 1. Each cycle is 28 days.
He weighed 160 - very good. BP was 108/69.

After the nurse accessed his port, she drew blood to send to the lab. While we were waiting for results, she started 500 ml of sterile saline; this hydration will be given before each infusion, to help protect organs.
Doug still has to take 20 mg dexamethasone with every Kyprolis infusion.

The parameters to 'qualify' for Kyprolis infusion are a little different than for the daratumumab.
This is for the medical nerds out there:
ANC needs to be greater than 1500
HGB greater than 8.5
PLT greater than 100
Total bilirubin  less than 1.2
No signs or symptoms of any herpes or varicella virus infection
Serum glucose less than 200
BP less than 150/90
No signs or symptoms of cardiac dysfunction
No signs or symptoms of pulmonary toxicity
If any of these are not within limits, the oncologist will withhold treatment or adjust medications. Or in some cases adjust the parameters.

Doug had no reactions to the infusion. Yay! Some of the possible side effects will show up only over time.

All his blood work was good, except sodium was a little low. Nurse said eat more salt - I was surprised by that.
Here are the counts for day 1:
WBC   6.7
HGB    12.4
PLT      330
ANC    5.4
GLU    122
CREAT  1.1
Magnesium   2.0
Sodium   134

The oncology pharmacist came down to go over the drugs with Doug. She looks much too young to have a doctorate in pharmacology! She's cute and she and Doug have a nice relationship developing. I can't stress enough how much we enjoy all the professionals in the infusion clinic.

It feels good to have the first two Kyprolis infusions over with. Doug is doing well. In the late afternoon, after we were home for a couple hours, the nurse called to make sure Doug was doing okay. An hour later the pharmacist called too!
Doug has slight nausea and of course the ever-present fatigue.

Friday, day 2, no blood work was needed. Doug just had the fluids and then Kyprolis. Kyprolis infusion is only 30 minutes. Much faster than the dara was.

The Kyprolis dose was reduced for the first two days. Next week it will be higher.

Thank you to all the people who are holding us up in prayer!
Love to all.