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[Guest guest]

I am new to this message board, however I am not completely new to

CML nor Gleevec. I was diagnosed in January of 2005, about two weeks

before our third child was born. I showed no symptoms at the time

and it was discovered with a routine CBC for a physical.

After a visit with several oncologists, I found one with experience

with CML and I begain a dose of 600 mg of Gleevec daily. I then went

for further testing at MD in Houston (Giles) and now return

their annually, although they prefer you to go every six months or

so. After my visit to MD , we increased the dosage to 800 mg

until my one year anniversary and have lowered to dosage to 400 mg

after that point. My last PCR showed .05%, down from the 99.1% that

I had originally at diagnosis.

I work full time, am a father to three wonderful children and am

active in the community. I even coach a few sports teams (football,

basketballa and baseball)although my energy is nowhere where it used

to be.

However, I, like many of you, experience a myriad of side effects

with Gleevec and am starting to research a request to change to

Sprycel. If you had trouble with Gleevec and switched to Sprycel, I

would like to hear from you. How has the transition been? How have

the side effects been in comparison?

Also, if you would like to email any specific data on things I have

done to cope with the side effects of Gleevec, I would be glad to

hear from you and will respond accordingly.

With warm regards,

Matt