Hi all,
In May, I had to change my insurance and my Docs didn't accept my new one. I had a lot of trouble getting a referral, changing over to the new insurance, and getting authorizations for everything. Because of all the changes and miscommunications, I ended up without my Gleevec for almost 6 weeks. My last BCR/ABL was the first week of March and was 0.084 (IS) and testing was always sent to same lab..Qwest in Virginia.
Last week, I saw my new Onc for the second time, and this was the first time we did the Bcr/Abl. I just got the results back. They were sent out to the Mayo clinic Labs and I received the results today through the online medical records system. The first thing I looked for was, of course, the number. Well, no number..Instead I see the statement..".Negative. No BCR/ABL mRNA transcripts were detected." Yay!! However in reading a bit more on the report, I see this was a Qualitative test, so now I'm confused. do I need a Quantitative test? I know you all can relate..my life has revolved, for the last 22 months around this number.. Now I don't have one or need one? I really thought for sure it had gone up since I was without the Gleevec 400mg for so many weeks.
Should I call my Dr and ask for the Quantitative test? Can I ask to lower my Gleevec now? And what will the monitoring be like now there is no detection? I've been going for 3 month check ups since December.
Thanks!