Sclero-what?

The same week I got shingles, I actually had my next appointment with Dr. Walker. By then I was feeling much better compared to the beginning of the week. When he walked in he said, "Really? Shingles?" I should have told him that I blamed him, but I didn't. We just talked for a little, then he had me hop up on that bed thing (seriously, is there a name for that thing?) while he did his exam. When he pulled up my pant leg and saw my shingles he just said, "Oh!" I started laughing and said, "Yeah, I know." He then asked if I had questions. I asked him if this was a set-back in the progression the Cellcept had made, and he didn't seem to think so. I was taken off of the Cellcept by Dr. Carlson, and Dr. Walker just told me to wait until the sores had started scabbing over before going back on it. I have to admit, I was a bit afraid to go back on it because I don't want those dang shingles to come back. But he said that most people don't get t...

I had my next appointment with Dr. Walker on the 21st of November. It was good. Just another check to see how I was doing type of a thing. He asked how the Cellcept was working, and I told him fine. He decided to double the dose so I would be taking 2 pills in the morning and 2 in the evening. He asked how the Raynauds was, and I told him about the same. He mentioned a drug that is similar to Viagra (can't remember the name), but he wasn't sure if our insurance would cover it. Then he answered some questions and sent me for more blood tests. It's important to keep testing my blood every so often while I'm on the Cellcept to make sure that it's not killing my kidneys, and to keep my white blood count normal. I'm becoming a pro with the blood giving. When they called with the results, everything was okay, with the exception of the muscle enzymes. Dr. Walker wanted me to start taking 10 mg of Prednisone (Treats inflammation (swelling), severe allergies, compli...

I had my next appointment with my rheumy on October 22. He just asked me how I was doing. Not really much new to tell him, to be honest. He talked to me about the next step of the process which was the medication that he thought would be best for me to try. He told me he wanted to try me on Cellcept. Cellcept is a an immunosuppressive drug, which basically is going to lower my immune system. To put some of my family at ease with this, here is what the John Hopkins Scleroderma Center says about immunosuppressive therapy, The most popular approach to controlling the inflammatory phase of scleroderma is the use of immunosuppressive therapy. The rationale is that an autoimmune process is causing the inflammation and the downstream result is tissue damage and fibrosis. In this model, the fibrosis is an “innocent bystander” that is driven by the cytokines (chemical messengers) produced by the immune system. There are several drugs that are being used, but only a few well designed ...

I met with my rheumatologist on the 30th of September. I was a little nervous going into it, but mostly anxious. I had had a few people in my ward try to talk me out of going to him, because they weren't happy with him (though I never got an explanation why), but I decided I'd go and see what he was like, since he's the only rheumatologist in Logan and the next closest is in Ogden. It was a good appointment. I actually liked the doctor. He has an interesting sense of humor, but the kind that I like. He asked me again the basic, "what's going on" questions that Dr. Carlson asked, and did a basic check of my ears, face, shoulders and skin. He confirmed that it was scleroderma, the diffuse kind. (I'll explain more about that in a different post.) He told me he wanted to do some blood tests, then scheduled some tests to check my lungs and heart to make sure the disease hadn't spread to them. He gave me some more information, and talked a little abou...