12/19/07 IVIG Infusion

Well, today was a pretty good day. I had my regularly scheduled IVIG (Immunoglobulin) infusion today. This is the same procedure that I have had twice previously. It just boosts your immune system and really has no side affects other than it being a long procedure. I got there at 10:30 and left at 5pm. The actual infusion only takes 3 hours, so you can see there is a lot of waiting around for someone to do something.

This was also the day where they checked my blood levels to determine if I was going to need another transfusion and / or have some other treatment. There was also a standing order to give me Aranesp if my hemoglobin level was below 10. Aranesp is an ESA. Drugs known as ESAs, or erythropoiesis-stimulating agents, work by stimulating the bone marrow to make more red blood cells. They prescibe an ESA to increase your red blood cell count to avoid the need for a red blood cell transfusion.

The good news is that my hemoglobin has now risen to 11.6, which is the highest it has been since October. So I did not get Aranesp, and I did not need to have a transfusion. On a side note, my White Count (WBC) has gone down to 129,000, which is also the lowest that it has been since last December.

So I may be turning the corner on the Anemia. Of course we don't still know if it is the Prednisone that is artificially boosting the numbers.

I did not talk to any of my medical team today, but am going to call tomorrow to determine where we are going from here. My guess is that they might want to start tapering me off of the Prednisone, but I don't know how long that will take.

I do have an appointment scheduled next week with a local oncologist to see how willing he may be to take me on as a patient and work with Dr. Kipps. Other than that, my next appointment in La Jolla is on January 2nd for another IVIG.

Take Care and have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Terry