An Infusion for Susan

Well, my first Rituxan infusion went off without a “hitch in it’s giddy up”. After having the infusion postponed for two weeks, I was worried it might get deferred again yesterday. However, that was not the case. After four hours hooked up to the IV, I was ready to get up and move around. Once again, I had my technology, my books, my snacks and a bottle of water neatly packed and ready to rumble. This time everything came in handy to pass the time.

The nurse started out the IV drip really slow, and treated me with all of the additional reaction drugs I was expecting – Ibuprofen, Methylprednisolone and Benadryl. After about an hour, she turned up the drip a bit as everything was going very well and I was not reacting to the Rituxan in any way that I could tell. The only eventual reaction that I had was to the Benadryl.  It made me fall asleep for about an hour or so.  Sure hope I didn’t snore!

I slept away my afternoon and stayed up too late yesterday evening as a result.  The good news is that today I really feel good.  The inflammation and pain has subsided and I can move around much more freely.  The shortness of breath and rib pain from the pleurisy is still here, though.  Let’s hope that continues to fade away over time. My second infusion is two weeks out on a Thursday and then I won’t have another for about 6 months.  Now that is an infusion schedule I can live with.

Hoping tomorrow is another good day (and I think it will be!)

Susan, the RA Science Experiment