I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was talking with my doctors in order to figure out how to handle the final month of my six-month cycle at the end of an infusion. During that time, my disorder starts to flare. Breathing becomes more difficult, standing and walking are a bit more shaky and simply staying awake feels like a chore. Right now I’m making a conscious effort to lift my hands high enough to hit the next key correctly.

The only option before to make it through this ‘dip’ month was to go in as an inpatient and receive a large dosage of steroids via IV. This option is impractical, and I was hoping for a different idea. It looks like my rheumy has decided to do the Rituxan infusions every five months instead of every six. I noted in the last update that I didn’t think this was possible due to toxicity, but I believe that the idea is to lower the dosage slightly and have it done more frequently. Hopefully this will allow each new infusion a chance to get started before the old one wears off and leaves me in this sort of lull period that I’m in right now. 

So it looks like my next infusion will be some time this month, which I have to admit I’m not mentally prepared for. The process takes 6-9 hours and it’s exhausting in a lot of different ways. It’s one of those things where in the following days and weeks, you feel worse before you feel better. I know it’s something that has to be done, though, so I’ll lower my head and weather the storm again. Hopefully, by the time the next five-month mark hits we’ll be in a stride where I can not only avoid regressing, but keep powering forward toward remission.