The Remicade Treatment
Okay, so here's more info about my future Remicade treatments for my Crohn's disease.
I had an appointment with Dr. Quallich on Thursday morning, and it was decided that I'm going to start doing the Remicade IV treatments. The food poisoning from two weeks ago had irritated my system, and Dr. Quallich said that it was technically my third flare up since May, and that is just not right. So to put everything back in it's place, he said Remicade was the next step.
I discussed it with him a bit, and it seems to be the right way to go for me. I don't want to end up in the hospital once a year (or more) simply fighting a flare and bleeding. I don't want to be taking tylenol every other day to fight a nudge in my pain. And I certainly don't want to be on pills the rest of my life, even if it is just Pentasa and Omeprazole. Yeah, there are some risks (cancer and TB mainly), but they are very slim (there have been about five cases out of a million). I've been reading over a pamphlet about some of the side effects, but the treatment seems worth it. I've heard nothing but good things about it since I started talking to other people with Crohn's about it. It seems to be the miracle drug of fighting Crohn's disease.
So I'm prepping myself to get started with it. The insurance company has to approve of it first, and then I'm going to schedule my first three visits.
The infusions take about three hours. There's about an hour of prep and test time before the two hour IV does it's thing. The first infusion will take longer than that because they'll be checking me for allergic reactions and such. But at least after the first three the treatments stretch out. I get started at week 0, then the next treatment is at week 2. Then they wait until week 6, and after that it stretches to every six weeks to week 12, 18, 24, and so on.
The beauty about it is not only does this treatment suppress the system from flaring up, but it also repairs the damaged system. It helps the healing process and fixes the damage done to the Crohn's infected areas. So I'm thinking this is definitely the way to go.
Yes, I admit, I'm a little nervous. This is new territory after all. But the pros here are definitely outweighing the cons. So if this means that I just have to bite my lip, get stuck with a needle every couple of weeks and just take it, then so be it. Because I think the next step after this is surgery, and I don't think I want to go that far just yet.
But here's to the Remicade, and the hopeful healing it will bring me and everyone else who's suffering.
I leave you now with a joke that my friend Joe told me at work, which I thought would be appropriate for my situation...
Q: What's the difference between a rectal thermometer and a regular one?
A: The taste.
[rimshot]
I had an appointment with Dr. Quallich on Thursday morning, and it was decided that I'm going to start doing the Remicade IV treatments. The food poisoning from two weeks ago had irritated my system, and Dr. Quallich said that it was technically my third flare up since May, and that is just not right. So to put everything back in it's place, he said Remicade was the next step.
I discussed it with him a bit, and it seems to be the right way to go for me. I don't want to end up in the hospital once a year (or more) simply fighting a flare and bleeding. I don't want to be taking tylenol every other day to fight a nudge in my pain. And I certainly don't want to be on pills the rest of my life, even if it is just Pentasa and Omeprazole. Yeah, there are some risks (cancer and TB mainly), but they are very slim (there have been about five cases out of a million). I've been reading over a pamphlet about some of the side effects, but the treatment seems worth it. I've heard nothing but good things about it since I started talking to other people with Crohn's about it. It seems to be the miracle drug of fighting Crohn's disease.
So I'm prepping myself to get started with it. The insurance company has to approve of it first, and then I'm going to schedule my first three visits.
The infusions take about three hours. There's about an hour of prep and test time before the two hour IV does it's thing. The first infusion will take longer than that because they'll be checking me for allergic reactions and such. But at least after the first three the treatments stretch out. I get started at week 0, then the next treatment is at week 2. Then they wait until week 6, and after that it stretches to every six weeks to week 12, 18, 24, and so on.
The beauty about it is not only does this treatment suppress the system from flaring up, but it also repairs the damaged system. It helps the healing process and fixes the damage done to the Crohn's infected areas. So I'm thinking this is definitely the way to go.
Yes, I admit, I'm a little nervous. This is new territory after all. But the pros here are definitely outweighing the cons. So if this means that I just have to bite my lip, get stuck with a needle every couple of weeks and just take it, then so be it. Because I think the next step after this is surgery, and I don't think I want to go that far just yet.
But here's to the Remicade, and the hopeful healing it will bring me and everyone else who's suffering.
I leave you now with a joke that my friend Joe told me at work, which I thought would be appropriate for my situation...
Q: What's the difference between a rectal thermometer and a regular one?
A: The taste.
[rimshot]