Time to Stick it to The Man!

Well stick it to the disease anyway.  Since my mega kidney surgery in 2006, I decided that enough was enough and and I had to hit all my problems head on and really aggressively.  Sort of a live well or die trying mentality.  So back then I took the following steps:-

1st.  I changed my nephrologist and became super strict and diligent about my treatments.  My treatment plan was changed and I went from having an attack of kidney stones every six months to having only two in five years.

2nd.  My depression, that I haven't talked about much, but I plan too, needed to be addressed properly.  So I went on anti-depressants and had three years of counselling.  Depression will never completely go away, but if the medical fraternity were to give it a name they would say it is in remission.

3rd.  I tried to hit my CIDP hard.  I went on immune suppressive drugs (cell cept and prednisolone), had plasmspheresis and IvIg treatment all at the same time.  Sadly, this was only mildly effective at best.

4th.  I had brain surgery for my tremor.  This was probably the biggest thing I have ever done and wow was it worth it!  Now on a good day I can drink a coffee with one hand.

I feel that with most of these disorders I have reached the end of the road in terms of available treatments and for the most part I am happy with the results I have achieved.  The one exception being the CIDP.  Whilst the treatments are not as invasive as brain surgery, they are not pleasant and have their fair share of side effects that I have been exposed to.  I keep with them for fear of slipping backwards.

However, it has come to my attention recently that I have not yet hit the end of the road.  A couple of new treatments are now available that sound encouraging.  The first is a drug called rituximab, which attacks a protein that exists on B-cell preventing the immune system from working properly.

The second is stem cell transplantation.  They can now cultivate stem cells from your own or a donors bone marrow or placenta blood which strongly goes to negate the ethical issues of embryonic stem cell transplants.  However, the procedure is long, hard and dangerous.  Naturally, my doctors would like to try rituximab first, but I belief that life is for living so if rituximab doesn't work you can rest assured I will look at the stem cell option.  Live well or die trying.  Until next time, stay well:)