Hello Dear Ones --
Met with Craig's new nephrologist Dr. Bruce O'Neill at the PolyClinic downtown Seattle. Had a long chat about our trip to Mayo and went over the options.
We have decided to try a different treatment. Craig is going to get a drug called Rituximab. It is an antibody protein that will wipe out a certain type of white blood cell called a B cell (and a specific B cell at that). It is the hope that these B cells are making something that is injuring the kidney, and that if we wipe them out, when they come back they will forget the naughty things they were doing to Craig's kidneys and behave like nice little B cells.
He will start this treatment next week. He will get the drug IV once a week for 4 hours. He will do this every week for the next 3 weeks. The main risk is infection. If Amanda comes home with the sniffles, I am sending Craig to the Harbor Inn.
We are so hopeful that this will turn things around. Dr. O'Neill seems to think the response could be fairly rapid.
As of yesterday, we now have a 6 year old in our house. Went to our first football game at Nick's high school tonight. Life is still good.
Love, Sharon
Hi guys. Thanks for maintaining the log. Hope it's a helpful outlet for you as well but for those many who are cheering for Craig it's great to know what's happening. I've worked with Dr O'Neill before with shared patients and he seems to really know his stuff. Good luck with the new treatment.
ReplyDeleteAll best wishes in this ongoing battle...
Dan (Berg)
Hi Birkby's,
ReplyDeleteI wanted Craig to know that I had two rounds of rituximab (Rituxan 4) for an enlarged spleen and several cytopenias. The drug worked great. My spleen shrank by about 10%, and I subsequently had a splenectomy, which solved the cytopenia problems permanently (we hope). So, good luck with this treatment plan.
Larry and Roberta Wennik