My treatment with Thalidomide continued to be positive for 32 months, until late 2006. On December 6, 2006, a BMB revealed the blasts were at 4.5%, the platelets had dropped to 86, and the WBC to 3.6. We decided to change to Revlimid, now available "off label" to MDS patients who did not have the 5q chromosome deletion (-5q).

On December 24, I started treatment with Revlimid at 10mg/day. The results were almost immediately good, with the platelets increasing to the 170's in one month. The other counts also increased nicely.

Revlimid was much easier to take than Thalidomide, having much fewer side effects. I had sustained some neuropathy, numbness in my hands and feet, with the Thalidomide. This did not increase further with the Revlimid and seemed to be reduced somewhat over the next few months.