IVIG Day

WHAT IS IVIG?

Intravenous immune globulin ("IVIG") is a product made up of antibodies that can be given intravenously (through a vein).

Antibodies are proteins that your body makes to help you fight infections. Each antibody made by your body is slightly different, because it fits like a lock and key to every foreign substance (such as a piece of a virus or bacterium) that gets into your body. Over the course of your life your body makes thousands of different antibodies as you are exposed to different infectious organisms that your body considers to be "foreign."

IVIG is prepared from the blood donated by thousands of people, to make a super-concentrated and very diverse collection of antibodies against many possible infectious organisms your body might encounter.

WHY DO I NEED IVIG?

IVIG is used primarily in two situations.

One reason you might need IVIG is if your body does not make enough antibodies. This is called "humoral immunodeficiency." The IVIG simply provides extra antibodies that your body cannot make on its own. The antibodies usually last for several weeks to months and help your body fight off a large variety of infections. If you are getting IVIG for this reason, you will need to get it on a regular schedule.

A second reason you might need IVIG is if your immune system has started attacking your own body by producing antibodies directed against your own cells. Conditions in which this happens include:

●Destruction of your own blood platelets (known as immune thrombocytopenia [ITP])

●Destruction of your own red blood cells (known as autoimmune hemolytic anemia [AIHA])

●Attack on your nervous system, such as nerves that control your breathing (in Guillain-Barré syndrome) or nerves that control sensation (for example, in chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy [CIDP])  SOURCE:  UpToDate Patient Education


I receive monthly infusions of IVIG because my Oncologist fears that my low immunity and anemia from over a decade of cancer treatments that have included:  surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and immunotherapy, puts me in a HIGH RISK CATEGORY of contracting other life threatening illnesses.

Today, is the day that I get my monthly infusion.  I will arrive at UT Medical Center around 7:00 am and finish around 10:30 am and like always will be receiving premeds to keep from my getting sick.  The nurses will access my port on the right side of my upper body.

Of the two and a half hour treatment, I will probably sleep for about 90 minutes due to the premeds...  it's weird at first as I feel lightheaded and weak and my legs feel restless...  then, my eyes get heavy and the next thing I know I am waking up and there's about 30 minutes left.

Today's Debriefing

Today, was much like any other day, but was different in that I actually accomplished more than I had originally set out to do which does not happen too often, at least with me...  Yesterday, I had gone to the dentist for something that I thought was routine and ended up leaving with a root canal and a crown and knowledge that I had another tooth that would soon be needing a root canal and crown.

Fortunately, I used my stimulus money to pay for it...  thank goodness for the democrats...  without their desire to spend money like a drunken sailor I would have had to pay for this out of my own pocket and that would have sucked.

Anyway, after the numbness wore off, my mouth and jaw continued to hurt even after 12 hours so I took a couple of tylenol and was able to fall asleep.  this morning when I awoke the pain was gone and I am wondering if that had anything to do with my productivity.

Not only was I able to combine blogs today, but I posted several to my poetry blog,  wrote 7 pages on my work in progress novel, cooked some squash, zucchini, onions, peppers, and rice (enough for 3 meals) and make myself a ribeye steak, green onion, peppers, mushroom, tomatoes, and cheese omelette. (omelet)...  of which i ate half and will eat the other half tomorrow.

I was also able to make several postings of items I liked that I found online to one blog rather than spreading them around to several different blogs which was much more convenient as well as much more logical.

I have no more appointments until next wednesday and thursday when I have to go in for my monthly cancer treatments.  so far, the cancer treatments are working as i am in my 13th14th year, depending upon how the years are counted.  That is to say, counting each year separately or  increasing counting each time you move from one year to the next.

For example, the years 2019 and 2020 could either be counted as 2 years or as 1 year....  and my count would also depend upon when i actually started...   either january or june/july.

Most of my days are spent inside and i really need to start thinking about returning to or adding in an exercise routine into my schedule.

A New Perspective

For over 12 years I have been battling with non-Hodgkin's "B" cell Lymphoma or SLL (see my blog My Cancer Pilgrimage) and after 5-6 years of receiving monthly chemo infusions, my body contracted Melanoma that started on the bottom of my left foot, spread to the left area of my groin, then to the left area of my neck.  So, for 6-7 years I have been fighting off two cancers simultaneously.  Also about 12 years ago, I had a heart attack (not associated with my cancer treatments) that resulted in the recommendation to have a triple bypass but I went to NYC and had my arteries cleaned out and stents inserted...  5 stents in all.

I feel incredibly fortunate to have lived with cancer(s) for over a decade and I am still alive...  it must not be my time...  or someone or something is looking out for me...  it cannot just be coincidence...  that's too simplistic and melodramatic.

Each morning when I wake up and before I go to the bathroom, I sit on the side of the bed and just appreciate the fact that I actually woke up again.  This may not seem so special to you, the reader, but to me it is very special.  

In 2018, I had radiation treatments to slow down the spread of melanoma along with Opdivo infusions because the radiation was supposed to supercharge the Odivo...  which it did...  working perfectly...  and, several months later my Oncologist let it slip out that my cancer(s) had turned very aggressive and he was not sure if he was going to be to get them both under control...

I never knew this...  and, I am glad that I did not because my whole attitude would have changed and no doubt I would have gotten depressed, perhaps very depressed...  and, when one is fighting cancer, depression seems to make things worse.  ODD...  but a positive attitude actually helps fight the cancer sometimes.

But, each day is a blessing for me.

An appreciation of life.

A chance to see the beauty of life FREE OF CHARGE.