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Thursday, July 1, 2010

Mixed Emotions

So, Emily went back to Dr. Nickeson today.  It always feels like a family reunion.  They are so real there.  We got home very, very late & I'm exhausted so I'll keep this fairly short. 

In a nutshell, because the Methotrexate wreaks havoc with her white cell counts (ANC) he want to stop it for a while.  I'm really sad about that, but she needs to have some infection fighting ability so it's for the best.  To compensate a bit he wants her on Motrin three times a day.  In 2008 she was on Naproxen, & that worked GREAT except that it caused huge patches of skin that started off pink and eventually became this big, bruised area that hurt her.  She's never had rashes like that since stopping it.  She also had blood in her stool after about a year on it, so Motrin is a great option.  I wondered how today would work.  The original plan was to go in this week to see if the new dosage of Enbrel was working, and if not switch to Orencia.  The MTX issues changed that.  He doesn't want to change too many things at one time, understandably.  It's good for Emily in trying help her adjust.  She doesn't want to change meds because she doesn't like change and she's a bit scared.  I can see that the Enbrel isn't as effective as it once was, but we can milk it a while longer.  Besides, I'm not ready to accept the idea of IV infusions yet, despite knowing that it's a great medicine.  We talked about the conference a bit & how excited we are!!!  Norma & Dr. N just got back from a conference themselves.  In Italy!!!!!  How awesome!!!  

Well, I'm absolutely exhausted.  I'm not even 100% sure that this makes sense.  I'll be back soon, hopefully more coherent.  Have a great night!

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