10.08.2010

Friday

Farm

Hello.
I hope your Friday is off to a great start.
I'm getting pumped up for another wedding weekend at church.
I get to play "wedding planner"at the rehearsal tonight and "pastor" at the service tomorrow.
I pray that all goes wonderfully.

Yesterday I got to hang out with a 96-year-old.
It was the highlight of my week.
She is my soul sister.
She uses the expression, "Well I should say" very regularly, and I love that about her.
I also got to hear stories about going to confirmation class BY HORSE!
Yes, BY HORSE and buggy. And in the winter, by horse and sleigh.
Wow.

Blood Update:
I had a blood test this morning.
Now I get to wait for the phone call.
I made a new plan that I'm hoping to stick with.
#1 - Finish tapering off of the Prednisone.
#2 - Don't do anything unless the platelets get below 10,000.
#3 - When/if they get that low, then I will do a one-day treatment of the IVIG.

I was doing more research on the long-term side effects of steroids like prednisone and dexamethasone, and it doesn't sound good. Also, I'm sick of having drugs in my system. It's been about 3 months now. I did some more research on the drug Rituxin, too. Not good. And I still want my spleeny-spleen, so she's not getting removed. Those are all the options: spleenectomy, Rituxin, prednisone, dexamethasone, or IVIG. None of them have a 100% success rate. Steroids rarely work long-term (10-30% of the time). IVIG basically never works long-term. Spleenectomy works long-term about half of the time. And Rituxin works long-term between 30-50% of the time.

IVIG has the least amount of side effects, and I can live pretty normally.
I had a great initial response to IVIG, so it's good to know that if my platelets get below 10,000, I have a good option. The one danger with my plan is that there will be times when my platelets may get quite low. But, I'll just go in for blood tests on Tuesdays and Fridays, so the doctor will always know about where my count is at.

I hope hope hope and pray pray pray that my platelet "situation" will go into spontaneous remission sometime in the next year. It's definitely possible.

In the meantime, I think this plan will provide me with an "almost" normal life, few side effects, and the possibility of spontaneous remission.

Thanks for your thoughts and encouragment!

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