3/17/09

It's Green Day

P.S. Forgot to say Happy St. Patrick's Day-! I had surprise visitors this evening = highschool friends of my Mom's, how cool is that-?
Hi again, I guess I must be feeling better, as I'm not hanging around on the 'Net, blogging as much as I used to. Even tho I'm housebound much of the time, I find so much to do and I'm extra-slow at it, because I have this handicap called MS. Just went for my 35th Tysabri treatment last week. I got nervous about staying on it for so long, so I went for a consult with a doctor who I consider to be a "Tysabri expert" (Dr. G. in the Phoenix area). He is on some Tysabri committee that meets regularly (drug-maker Biogen). He assured me that I don't have to worry about getting the fatal condition PML, as I have 1 in 6,000 chances of getting it. There is a risk of getting something deadly from Novantrone use (1 in 500), so he has taking ALL of his MS patient off of it. There are roughly 18,000 MS-ers who've been on Tysabri for 2 years, he has 42 MS patients on Tysabri right now. The average time for getting PML is when you've been on Tysabri for 11 - 17 months. So I feel better now about staying on Tysabri. I've tried all the other "popular" MS drugs except Copaxone. I even had 2 treatments of Novantrone in 2005. My heart's "MUGA" was not good after those 2 treatments, so that was enough for me. I've got a scooter to zip around the house in (yes, it's that big). I was feeling lots better in Feb. and "scooted" around too fast. This caused me to catch door frames with my back tires, jam to a halt, and fall over on the floor, still in the sitting position. This is a funny mental image, but I did this not once, but 3 times before I got the hint to "cool my jets". The falls caused no bruises, no broken bones, no blood clots. But a month later, I'm getting a "zinging" like lightning up and down the outside of my left leg (the first fall) whenever I put weight on that leg. My neurologist said yesterday that it sounds like a nerve problem, so in I go for an MRI. I've had many MRI's and I'm curious as to what it will show and what the treatment will be. The ER tried a splint on my leg, but I couldn't stand it for more than 12 hours and took it off. I'm trying the R(Rest) I(Ice) C(Compression) and E(Elevation) treatment, except not the C(Compression). It's helped. Bye for now.

Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping...

Hi again, I guess I must be feeling better, as I'm not hanging around on the 'Net, blogging as much as I used to. Even tho I'm housebound much of the time, I find so much to do & I'm extra-slow at it, because I have this handicap called MS. Just went for my 35th Tysabri treatment last week. I got nervous about staying on it for so long, so I went for a consult with a doctor who I consider to be a "Tysabri expert" (Dr. G. in the Phoenix area). He is on some Tysabri committe that meets regularly (drug-maker Biogen). He assured me that I don't have to worry about getting the fatal condition PML, as I have 1 in 6,000 chances of getting it. There is a risk of getting some deadly from Novantrone use (1 in 500), so he has taking ALL of his MS patient off of it. There are roughly 18,000 MS-ers who've been on Tysabri for 2 years, he has 42 MS patients on Tysabri right now. The average time for getting PML is when you've been on Tysabri for 11 - 17 months. So I feel better now about staying on Tysabri. I've tried all the other "popular" MS drugs except Copaxone. I even had 2 treatments of Novantrone in 2005. My heart's "MUGA" was not good after those 2 treatments, so that was enough for me. I've got a scooter to zip around the house in (yes, it's that big). I was feeling lots better in Feb. & "scooted" around too fast. This caused me to catch door frames with my back tires, jam to a halt, & fall over on the floor, still in the sitting position. This is a funny mental image, but I did this not once, but 3 times before I got the hint to "cool my jets". The falls caused no bruises, no broken bones, no blood clots. But a month later, I'm getting a "zinging" like lightning up & down the outside of my left leg (the first fall) whenever I put weight on that leg. My neurologist said yesterday that it sounds like a nerve problem, so in I go for an MRI. I've had many MRI's & I'm curious as to what it will show & what the treatment will be. The ER tried a splint on my leg, but I couldn't stand it for more than 12 hours & took it off. I'm trying the R(Rest) I(Ice) C(Compression) and E(Elevation) treatment, except not the C(Compression). It's helped. Bye for now.