They switch me to a bag of saline when the bag of Tysabri is empty. It drips for about 20 minutes or so, usually until the bag is at least half empty. Then they remove the IV and I sit until the hour mark of when the Tysabri bag was empty. Then they do all the usual checks of vitals and check for rashes before I leave.

I'm just home from my infusion, and I thought I'd let you know how it went!

It was a rough Ty day! Normally, one little poke and the line is in and good to go. The nurse let the first one roll around on her til I told her to stop. Try #2 was a no good, Try #3 was a no go. Try #4 with a little patience finally got her in.

Then she didn't realize they had delivered the medicine, so I was almost an hour before I even started the drip.

I kept the heating pad on me the entire time, even putting it on the line as it went in hoping to keep it warm. My bp was up a little today. Started out temp of 98.1. Midway through 98.3, bp horrible. Did the shakes and stretches at the same five minute mark post med as usual. Stood up about 5 minutes into the shakes, that seems to help slow em down. I probably only had about 15-20 bad minutes instead of 30 this time.

Got a headache this time, so I will pre-medicate next time with the Aleve when I first go in. I haven't had the headaches, or flu-like aches I'm kind of feeling now.

She took my temp again close to the time to go, it was 100.4! So dang it, she took my heating pad away

I went to the bathroom, she took out the iv thingy, took my temp again and it was down to 99.2 so she let me go home.

Now what?

Is the antibody bloodwork hard to get like the Rebif was (special procedure, not really hard)? Or can I just go to my regular blood place if the neuro decides I need it?

When I go in December I will ask about the test for antibodies. I am not sure if I had it or not. All the tests and bloodwork tend to run together after awhile! I know I have been to the lab every three months since I started, but I don't have the list of tests run on hand.

Hope everyone is feeling well this Saturday a.m. I am huddled in a wool blanket in front of the woodstove waiting for the fire to catch! It's AAAACK snowing out and I am NOT looking forward to going outside to work on the woodpile!

The antibody test is just a blood test, but they send it off to a special lab (I think it's in California?) I had it at about six months or so as a precaution and it turned out negative.

My local clinic made a big deal about having to do the test because they had to ship it Fedex next day on dry ice. You'd think I was asking them to do a heart transplant as an office procedure. Sheesh! Anyway, they said if I need it again I have to have it done at the local hospital.

Sorry about the infusion mishaps, I hope next time is better.

What could Anthem Blue Cross be thinking?

Profit, profit, profit...at an unethical rate...

I have MS, and so my rates have gone up and my coverage and out of pocket expenxes, as well as my deductable have all increased.

How about adding another 20% to your premium Mr. Victor?
Oh sure....No Praaablem...

Anthem Blue Cross must be thinking that MS'rs are rolling in cash, or that they can price us out of having insurance completely....OR....they realize that Obama's plan will provide a little more of a tax break (which is assumed to mean more money for the individual...which it is NOT) and they can soak us for a little more...

Now that my Tysabri costs are gone, one would think that a more reasonable increase would be fair.....but alas, a 20% increase is now mandatory and benefits are garbage.

Yeesh.

I hope that they go bankrupt after a new all-inclusive plan for healthcare is created.

......and now back to our regularly scheduled programming...


-Vic

PS...

...How do they expect a family of two (2) to pay over $20,525 per year for their insurance?

Sheesh is right, Vic. If you're not in the poorhouse yet, Insurance premiums and out of pocket expenses will put you there.

The poorhouse is in our "Uptown" neighborhood. We live under a rock now.

I guess this is the way Anthem Blue Cross says "Seasons Greetings, ..., now bend over".

Yeesh.

Hi Everybody,

I had infusion #20 Wednesday and it went well. I have really really good veins. My nurse worships before them each month. She said if everyone had veins like me her job would be a lot easier. In particular my right arm, she loves that vein. I said, oh yes, everybody should have one of those, lol.

Anyway, I had no new lesions on my MRI. Also, my fatigue was not as bad this time, probably because of the Provigil?

My eye doctor had mailed my eye test results and the neuro was training the nurse with the images. He said I had some evidence of damage from the MS in the past. I'd always thought my eyes were ok, I don't remember anything happening though I have had some pains in the eyes sometimes...

Oh well, until next time, Dec. 17th...