My mum is currently in her first relapse of her Myeloma & currently on the maximum dose of Lenalidomide (25mg) & high dose Dexamethasone (40mg), a different treatment to her first one (Velcade) back in 2017. My dad passed away last year (non cancer related) so at present there is just me & mum living in our house & I have no siblings. My mum is in her 1st treatment cycle & on week 2 of 3. Initially she tolerated it well & apart from some tiredness there was no problem. However, since Saturday mum has been in bed, very weak & virtually no appetite, vomiting a couple of times & at times poor short term memory/confusion. I've felt very alone & have been keeping myself busy to keep the 3 bed semi & garden presentable/clean. I'm still emotionally recovering from my dad passing away last year so to watch the slow decline of my mum to the point I don't recognise her at times is too much. She is like a ghost & has that Alzheimer's type glazed look in her eyes.
Is this normal for Lenalidomide to experience these side effects after tolerating the first 10 days or so? Or could the dose be too high?
Hello Sue,
Thank you for your reply, I appreciate it. My mum is still very much the same today so I phoned the Haemotology unit for their advice. She asked me a lot of questions about the side effects, which I found later looking at toxicity on Macmillan so they've told her to cease this cycle immediately. They're going to review her next week before she would start her 2nd cycle. She at least ate a yogurt tonight so that's better than yesterday but she seemed to struggle to feed herself with the coordination. I'm hoping, like you say, that's just the steroids & will improve in the next couple of days by stopping.
19th cycle that is incredible strength. I wish you all the best & good luck for your treatment. Is this your first treatment or are you in a relapse phase, if you don't mind me asking?
Steph 
