Month 17, part B
Happy New Year. As you can see below, my blood counts are staying in a fairly narrow range (and a pretty good range).
...... last week current normal
..... ---------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 6.6 ...... 6.6 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 11.7 ..... 11.6 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 223 ...... 247 ... 150 – 400
My pulse ox was back down to 91%, but they still don’t seem concerned. My physicians assistant says my liver enzymes indicate that I am handling the reduction in Prednisone very well. She thought I could probably reduce the level again, but my regular doctor was not available and the doctor I saw seemed to know nothing about my condition until he read my charts when he came in the exam room. I felt like he didn’t have a good picture and recommended that we keep the Prednisone at 15 mg/day until my next appointment which he said could be two weeks. My PA questioned him a little, but he said I was just reduced to 15 last week and he didn’t want to reduce it too rapidly. When he left, I told my PA that I didn’t know what the protocol was, but if she spoke to my regular doctor and she thought I could reduce the Prednisone, she could just give me a call. She did call a day later and said it was fine to reduce it to 10 mg/day and we agreed that I would do so after a week.
Starting in January, my doctor is going to start seeing patients on Monday instead of Thursday, so my next appointment is not until 1/16/06.
Cramping is still pretty bad at times, but it’s not constant.
Overall, I’m still feeling pretty good and hope we can continue to reduce the immune suppressants. My weight has been holding steady, which to me indicates that I’m not starting to retain fluids again, although when they examine me, the doctors believe I am still retaining some fluid – just not nearly as much as I had been a month or so ago.
Love,
Justin
...... last week current normal
..... ---------- ------- ---------
WBC.. 6.6 ...... 6.6 ..... 4 – 11
Hgb.. 11.7 ..... 11.6 ... 14 – 18
Plt.. 223 ...... 247 ... 150 – 400
My pulse ox was back down to 91%, but they still don’t seem concerned. My physicians assistant says my liver enzymes indicate that I am handling the reduction in Prednisone very well. She thought I could probably reduce the level again, but my regular doctor was not available and the doctor I saw seemed to know nothing about my condition until he read my charts when he came in the exam room. I felt like he didn’t have a good picture and recommended that we keep the Prednisone at 15 mg/day until my next appointment which he said could be two weeks. My PA questioned him a little, but he said I was just reduced to 15 last week and he didn’t want to reduce it too rapidly. When he left, I told my PA that I didn’t know what the protocol was, but if she spoke to my regular doctor and she thought I could reduce the Prednisone, she could just give me a call. She did call a day later and said it was fine to reduce it to 10 mg/day and we agreed that I would do so after a week.
Starting in January, my doctor is going to start seeing patients on Monday instead of Thursday, so my next appointment is not until 1/16/06.
Cramping is still pretty bad at times, but it’s not constant.
Overall, I’m still feeling pretty good and hope we can continue to reduce the immune suppressants. My weight has been holding steady, which to me indicates that I’m not starting to retain fluids again, although when they examine me, the doctors believe I am still retaining some fluid – just not nearly as much as I had been a month or so ago.
Love,
Justin
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