Fortunately, the last round, which was likely the last ever, did shrink the tumor on her cervical spine. Even though she will likely never walk, again, she has regained a little movement in her left leg. Fortunately, at this point, her blood work is coming back good so she's starting a new chemo aimed at the lesions on her pelvis and femur. But, she is also someone who will never be cancer free.

I wish there was something to say other than never give up hope. And, do what ever you can to re-boost your immune system. There is a school of thought about keeping your system high in alkaline and low in acid, since tumors cannot thrive in an alkaline environment.

I'm still getting my chemo every two weeks. My fatigue is ridiculous....I can't even get to the store and back (1 block) without freakin\ collapsing in fatigue. The chemo is beating the crap out of me.

My last ct showed stable lymph node tumours and the node in my chest doesn't seem to be growing. My CEA numbers were down by half. Basically, my doctor says to keep blasting away with chemo and see how things are in two months. Sometimes I feel like I can't take anymore. I can't work, I can't do anything. What's the point of living long if all I get to do is lie on the couch for the rest of it.

I know it's a shitty thing to complain about since you WANT to get chemo and can't, but it's really sucked. I can't live the rest of my life like this......

"so-and-so died after a long battle with cancer" I now know that they're talking about.

I think I was secretly hoping I could get a transplant, the first year would suck, but then I'd be magically cured, but I guess it ain't gonna happen that way. Gotta get resigned to doing the long haul.

very sorry to hear of the BMB results, do they think the MDS is a result of prior chemo treatments? I've read about secondary MDS after treatments for other types of cancer so just wondering if they mentioned the possibility. My husband was diagnosed with MDS RAEB 2 which did not respond to one of the initial treatments (Dacogen) and progressed to acute myeloid leukemia.
It is all a balancing act after transplant, some say that a small amount of GVHD helps promote a graft vs leukemia effect to keep things in check, sounds similar to the immune surveillance system you mentioned. Three months after my husband's transplant he developed EBV lymphoma and had 5 treatments of Rituximab to hopefully wipe out the lymphoma. We were discussing him entering the trial they had at Sloan with Interlukin 7 when he developed the EBV lymphoma. They hope this will be a bridge in raising the patient's immunity enough to get them through a rough period where they are at risk of developing other problems, similar to what they do now as standard treatment in raising the the ANC by giving Neupogen and moving them past that critical period, but we never made it that far before the lymphoma.
He is now two and a half years post transplant and his blood counts looks good, but we're always looking over our shoulders. They are making decent strides, but still much has to be done to combat this disease.

Am trying Stivarga, a recently approved colon cancer drug; it's a oral chemo, so no more hospital chair for me. Just started it yesterday, so we'll have to see how it goes.