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...
Today is Tysabri #3, or infusion day as I call it and I have an hour to kill. What to do? Candy Crush Saga, of course. I was pretty anxious when I met my neurologist this morning, fearing for bad news with the latest MRI scan. Thankfully, he was nothing but all smiles, pleased at my progress. I’m 99% normal, I said. I told...
Just finished my second Tysabri infusion and I am just now under observation for an hour for side effects. It took less than 10 minutes to set me up. It’s such a breeze now that I have a port-a-cath. My neurologist dropped by as I was starting and he told me I’m JC-positive. I was hoping for the opposite but what can you do....
So it’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been wanting to document the whole relapse but got busy at getting better instead. I am feeling 95% myself again, sans for this numb and tingling sensation left on my fingertips. Would love to continue physical therapy but it has been insanely cold that I’d rather stay indoors. My port-a-cath has been bothering me....