My favorite neuro nurse, Patrice, preparing my Mabthera infusion at Danderydssjukhus, Stockholm. Since my last post in November, 2013, I’ve had 4 Mabthera infusions to date, spaced out every six months. And guess what? I haven’t had a relapse since! In between the infusions, I changed boyfriends and apartments, and while the breakup was a long and painful process (we were together for almost...
My office for today. Worked during the infusion. Here in the Nordics, when a patient is at risk for PML and can no longer continue Tysabri, the next line in medication is MabThera, at least that’s what my neurologist said. Manufactured by Roche, MabThera (rituximab) is actually used to treat non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). MabThera is a chimeric monoclonal antibody...
And so it with great sadness that I must end Tysabri. I’ve been JCV positive from the beginning of my treatment January this year, and my latest bloodwork showed 1.7 (whatever that is) of antibodies. The threshold is 2, I think. I felt awesome all these 9 months I’ve been on it, the most normal I’ve ever been since I was diagnosed. I even...