first infusion yesterday
Posted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 1:05 pm
Had my first infusion of Rituxan yesterday at UCSF. Had a slight infusion reaction about two hours in that resulted in nothing more than a very itchy throat. They cut the flow, added more Benadryl, and we started again about 20 minutes later. Because of this hiccup whole infusion lasted about 7 hours.
After several denials my insurance (Blue Shield of California) agreed to pay for it thanks to a letter from my neurologist, Dr. Okuda. He had first wanted me to go on this stuff some two years ago when he recommended I stop Tysabri, which was not slowing down my progression adequately enough. We were denied and I tried Cytoxan, but it had little effect.
As a young person (34) with some evidence of active disease on last MRI I hope that I fall into the group that saw some clinical benefit from Rituxan http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 7/abstract
Next infusion in two weeks. I'll update my progess, which will hopefully be no progression.
After several denials my insurance (Blue Shield of California) agreed to pay for it thanks to a letter from my neurologist, Dr. Okuda. He had first wanted me to go on this stuff some two years ago when he recommended I stop Tysabri, which was not slowing down my progression adequately enough. We were denied and I tried Cytoxan, but it had little effect.
As a young person (34) with some evidence of active disease on last MRI I hope that I fall into the group that saw some clinical benefit from Rituxan http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/jour ... 7/abstract
Next infusion in two weeks. I'll update my progess, which will hopefully be no progression.