I had another Igg infusion treatment yesterday, which was my fourth. When I started these treatments, the doctor and I agree that I would have 6 treatments, one each month, to see if they made me fell better.
I felt bad yesterday when I went to get the infusion. As usual, the infusion took over 3 hours; I didn’t notice any big change in the way I felt during the first couple of hours of the infusion, because I was already feeling bad. But, I felt progressively worse toward the end of the infusion, and by the time I was finished, I felt really bad. I had fever all afternoon and stayed in bed.
I have an appointment to see the doctor next week; I suppose he will evaluate how the treatments are going and whether to continue for two more treatments. Unfortunately, I’m not very confident that the treatments are helping very much. For sure, the treatments did not provide a “cure”. I have good days and bad days. After the treatments started I thought I could see some benefit. However, I expected there to be some placebo effect. When the primary symptoms are malaise, burning eyes, mild headache, tiredness, and generally “don’t feel good”, it’s hard to evaluate improvement from day to day. I still have good days and bad days, but for a time I thought there might be fewer really bad days.
However, this month there were some days when I didn’t feel like doing anything. Yet, I had some pretty good days this month and had some good bike rides, which for me is a good gauge of how I feel. But, Wednesday and Thursday of this week I didn’t feel like riding or doing much of anything. The past few days have been particularly bad.
Our kids came for a visit last week. Matthew and his family arrived on Saturday morning, and Amy arrived on Saturday afternoon. We went to Kay and Robert’s home on Sunday for a family gathering. Just about all our kid’s cousins came, and we had lots of fun at the pool. We spent 2 nights in Russellville and went to Mountain View for one night. It wouldn’t be quite the same in Mountain View without some of Juanita’s chicken and dressing; Grandma didn’t disappoint! Amy was sick with a cold, but she participated in all the activities in spite of not being at the top of her game.
Nathan broke his arm a week before they came. It was a pretty bad break, but not a compound fracture (This six-year-old can explain what a compound fracture is). Both bones were broken. He had gone to a camp and slipped on some playground equipment about 15 minutes after arriving. His arm was set in place at the ER, but there was a question about whether he would need a pin. If so, they might not have been able to travel as planned. However, the doctor advised that he could come to Arkansas, and they would review whether he needed a pin after he returned home from vacation. While we were in Mountain View, we took Nathan to see Dr. John, an orthopedic surgeon who is the husband of Ann’s first cousin, once removed, so he could evaluate Nathan’s arm. Cousin John thought that he should try to reposition the bone for better healing. So, he and his partner, Dr. V. took Nathan to the operating room to re-set the bone. However, they found that the bone could not be re-set without a pin, so they put in a pin. That took quite a while, but Nathan was fine. He didn’t have a lot of pain that the pain medicine didn’t handle. He was much better the next day.
Amy left very early on Thursday morning so she could attend an important meeting at noon in DC. Believe it or not she made it to her meeting on time. That afternoon we went downtown to the Nature Center and to the Museum of Discovery. Nathan and Maddie enjoyed those museums but so did the adults. The Museum of Discovery is really quite interesting. We also rode the street car around Little Rock and North Little Rock. The driver also served as tour guide and explained various features of the city.
Matthew and Nathan helped me buy a new smoker. I’m looking forward great food! Nana took Maddie for a manicure and a pedicure.
I had another infusion of immunoglobulins today. This one was about the same as the previous two. I get an IV and the stuff drips in over a period of about 3 hours. I don’t feel much of anything as it drips in, but the infusion usually causes me to have a bad headache. I got Tylenol before the treatment started to help with the pain. I don’t believe the headache was quite as bad this time.
I have been feeling a little better since I’d been having the infusion, so I hope the treatment is helping. I was a little disappointed that the treatment didn’t result in an immediate “cure”. I will have three more treatments after this one and then evaluate the situation. I’m still optimistic.
