IVIG

Our appt at Shepherd on Friday went as well as could be expected.
Tracy and Dr. Thrower agreed that while 10 weeks of double vision was not unheard of in MS, it certainly was on the longer end of the spectrum. Therefore it is time to try a new drug called IVIG. It stands for Intravenous Immunoglobulin. In a nutshell it is a drug given over 5 days via IV and it is another immune system modulator of sorts. We are hoping it will give my immune system that final kick in the rear that it needs to get my vision back to normal.

The catch? (Why is there always a catch?) Well the main catch is that it is Super $$$. A friend of Mom and George just had a treatment of IVIG and the grand total was upwards of $50,000! So obviously we are waiting on pre-certification from Aetna before we start. Hopefully they will approve it without us having to jump through TOO many hoops first.
The only other downside is that each IV takes 4-5 hours x 5 days = about 20 total hours hooked up to tubes. Good thing my brother Van just brought over Season 2.5 of BSG!

I am trying to be positive about this new drug, without getting my hopes too high, for fear it may not work. I think it will. I hope it will. I am telling my body to be nice and accepting of our new IVIG friends when they come to visit and praying for the best results possible.

"Prepare for the worst, but hope for the best" is a quote popular to many MS websites. I guess the worst case being my vision never gets back to normal and I learn to adapt (apparently Atlanta has a really great Center for the Blind/Visually Impaired which is good to know). Best case is my vision returns 100%. How cool would that be? Part of me is afraid that after 10+ weeks I am not even going to recognize single vision when it returns!! Kidding, I am kidding. :-)

We will wait patiently while Aetna decides my fate...
More from me soon.
XOXOXO