Sunday, day 6

This is Maddy's Sunday brunch! She realized this morning that she does not order food that requires chewing in the morning. Too much effort! Lol

I got the low down from Dr. Floreth this morning so here is the scoop. He said they are aiming to get her out of here tomorrow. The thing that may get in her way is the antibodies. After the last round of pheresis they send off a blood sample to check for antibodies. He said 80% of patients come back free of antibodies after five rounds of pheresis. The other 20% have to do another five rounds! Yikes! I hope the law of averages is on our side! If there are antibodies still showing up in today's round of blood work they will order another five rounds which will keep her in the hospital through next Sunday or Monday! Ugh!

As for the other IV she is getting today. One is called Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), here is the Wikipedia page. Basically now that they have removed her antibodies that were attacking her lungs they will replace them with immunoglobulin so that she still has some protection against infection. The other treatment she will get today is a mild form of chemo therapy designed to further destroy any remaining antibodies that may be floating around in her body. I can't remember the name of it because he said it too fast. She has had both of these treatments back when she had the first round of plasma pheresis immediately after her transplant so she should not have a bad reaction to them. Fingers crossed!

Other than that it should be a quiet day here at club TGH. She was in a good mood this morning and was very chatty. It may have had something to do with the grande iced chai I got her from Starbucks! Now she is taking a little nap before her next round of treatments.

1:40PM

Found out what the chemo is that they are giving Maddy. Rituxan, it's commonly used in the treatment of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Basically like I mentioned before its being used to attack the antibodies and fight the rejection episode Maddy is experiencing. There is not much information on the web about its use in this application so I won't bother with a link. She is getting her IVIG treatment now and the Rituxan later.

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