Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Rituxan #4 Complete with no problems, Platelets aren't looking great... holding out till Thursday & we'll see what happens

Just back from my treatment at Dr. Pastore's. The Rituxan drip went well, no adverse reactions and my body tolerated it. I have the same side effects thus far as I have from any other Rituxan drip so no reason to think this one will be any different, I'll be wiped out for a few, shakey, racy heart & hot core temp... then within a few days I should be feeling a little stronger and better.

The not so great news is that my platelets fell from 250 last Thursday to 150 today. And while 150 is still within the generally safe range, its also not very far from 100... anything below which is sent to the hospital. I think I had hoped in my mind that I was a little bit safer than I found out my reality is today. I was very nervous about this Rituxan drug, but then began to have some solid faith that it would work - despite all the icky things I had to experience while taking it- I thought it would work and be worth it, starting to see thats not a smart thing to do with any of these treatments.

Well, the only thing to do is wait. They are watching me very closely, so Thursday I'll come in for another test and if the platelets dropped too far I'll be sent to the hospital to start all over, if they look good then we'll decide if there is more Rituxan or if I will just taper to the Prednisone and hope my body takes over slowly on its own. So Thursday it is! I'll let you know then :)