Hi Patti,
We hope Dean will respond to Revlimid as well as he responded to Dacogen! You know that Revlimid should be combined with Prednisone or a similar drug for best effect. Many doctors start with 5 mg Revlimid and 30 mg Prednisone. The Prednisone is then tapered to 5 mg/day.
Revlimid (lenalidomide) and Prednisone (a corticosteroid) work in different ways when they increase HGB:
http://bloodjournal.hematologylibrar.../2296.abstract
To avoid adverse effects it is much better to start with a low dose (5mg) - many patients like Maria's mother can't stand 10mg/day.
I started to take Thalidomide (similar to Revlimid) 50mg/day but my WBCs decreased and now I have been taking 50 mg four days/week - that is 29 mg/day during more than 2 years with positive effect. In many trials they tried to give the poor patients up to 800mg/day.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A