Thursday, September 6, 2012

I strongly dislike waiting

I have never been the most patient person. Those of you who know me will not be shocked by this declaration. I went to the doctors today for a blood draw. This does not bother me as I've never been bothered with needles.(unless I'm doing the sticking! Backwards I know)

The reason for the blood draw is because at my neurologist office last Friday I was told my MS, while not super active, is active enough that he wants me on treatment again. The best option would be a drug called Tysabri. This is a once a month infusion. So why not just start it? Well, I have to be tested for the JC virus. This is usually a harmless virus which "hangs out" in the body (my dr said around the kidneys) and doesn't do anything. About 50% of all Americans have the JC virus. The issue is that a small amount of people who have the JC virus and go on Tysabri have a problem. The problem is that Tysabri can potentially activate the virus, sending it to the brain and causing life threatening problems including death. So, now I have to wait 10 days for the results. If I do not have the virus, I will start the treatment and consider the 1&1/2 hours at the infusion center as "me time" every month. If I do have the virus then I will need to go in and talk with my neurologist again and try to weigh the pros and cons of taking the medication. So this is my waiting game for the moment and I'm not very patient. Ten days will fly by right? Besides, do I really want the results? Yes, one way or another, I need to get those results and make a decision which could alter the course of my MS and health for the rest of my life. Waiting.....waiting......waiting.....

1 comment:

  1. I strongly dislike waiting too, but these last few days the Universe has been giving me some pretty hefty lessons on being patient. We have 11 more days of waiting ourselves ... maybe we can wait together.

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