Rituxan 1/4 - 9/19/12

I have about 30 minutes left of the first of 4 Rituxan treatments.  It has been a long day and I can't wait to get home and see my family.  My cbc showed that my platelets are at 57 so I'm getting lowered to 20mg of prednsione.  The IV is annoying and I had a bad reaction at first to the drug. My throat got really itchy and dry and I had a difficult time breathing. I was going to go on oxygen but they gave me a steroid called solu-medrol through the IV and the side effects went away and they were able to keep giving me the meds.  

Please pray that it's working, I've been reading online a lot of positive results from this drug. 

Thank you for your support. Going to go home now and rest - Kayte

Sept. 10, 2012

My count is up to 49,000 which is great, but not a surprise since I'm up to 30mg of prednisone. My hematologist and I agree that I can't stay on prednisone forever, it's taking it's toll on me. He was thinking about doing the IVIG treatment again, but since my platelet count has gone into a safer number it's not immediately necessary.  He said that we're going to use Rituxan as a treatment and if that doesn't work then we'll do a splenectomy. Below is a link that explains the Rituxan treatment if you're interested.  It's going to start next Wednesday and go for 4 weeks. Also, going down to 25mg of Prednisone (here comes the slow weaning process).
Thank you for your support and prayers. I would love to avoid getting my spleen removed so let's pray that this works! I'll keep you all updated, maybe even during the treatment since it's almost 5 hours long!

http://www.pdsa.org/itp-treatments/rituxan.html

Thanks again,
Kayte

Isaiah 41:10 "Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea I will help thee; yea I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness."

September 7, 2012

My count is 8,000.  I'm now at 30mg of prednisone and go in on Monday for a follow up. Between now and Monday we have to figure out which treatment we're going to do next. I'm looking up something called nplate, which my doc said would prob work for me but is costly. yup, we know about costly treatments.  He first recommended we do the IVIG AGAIN! I hesitated b/c it was awful to receive, didn't work and cost a lot of money.  But he was more positive about the nplate.  So this weekend is researching, taking more prednisone, eating everything in the house b/c of the prednisone and trying not to bump my head.
Please pray that my counts go up to a safe number, and my safety. The doc said that this is a number that he would hospitalize me at and give me hemaglobins, but he was sure that with the increased dosage of prednisone that my count would get higher quickly.
Also, please pray that I stay positive and don't complain so much, poor Tommy. He's a saint for listening to me complain about bad I feel.
- Kayte
Proverbs 3:5,6
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct they paths."