Today we went down to La Jolla for my bi-weekly IVIG infusion, and for the blood test that tells me how I am doing. And the envelope please….my hemoglobin is going UP. I went from 9.3 on Thursday to 11.0 today. So the consensus is that the Prednisone is working. The other theories are that the IVIG also helps and the shot of Aranesp that I got two weeks ago is kicking in. So, even though we really can’t be sure which of the pieces are making a difference, a difference has been made.
So, now the short and sweet readers can stop reading.
The plan is now to have a blood test on Monday to validate the continued rise in the hemoglobin. If it continues to rise, I will probably start tapering off the Prednisone next week. My rough guess is that will take until the end of June. If you remember, this is exactly what happened to me at the beginning of the year. The difference this time is that when I get to a good hemoglobin level, and I have tapered off of the Prednisone, Dr. Kipps will start a Treatment Therapy for the CLL. There is some belief that the AIHA can be triggered by the CLL, so the theory is that if you can control the CLL you can control the AIHA. But in order to treat the CLL your AIHA must be under control. So there may be a small window of opportunity in which to do this. I won’t get into the treatment protocols at this time because even the ‘detail’ readers may glaze over.
So, now that I am back on the mend, we are off to Vegas Baby. We are going with Donna’s parents to visit Donna’s sister Nancy and her son and daughter. We actually just talked about doing this last night if I was on the upswing. But this is how you can operate if you are retired.
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