its my one year anniversary!! (and other stuff)

[Guest guest]

wow - a whole year of xolair. allergy wise i'm much improved, seeing

the most improvement in the spring and fall. what a miracle. last

spring (4 months into xolair) i was able to go mountain biking

again/ it had been a few years since i did that. i can walk outside,

stay outside, spend time rolling in the grass with my dogs. its

amazing.

because of the xolair, i was able to not only decrease my inhaled

steroids by half, but i was able to be free from prednisone from

april until november, which was a record. since getting of it in

november, i'm still prednisone free!!! its amazing i tell ya!

onto the other - yet another infection. i was at the dr today for

the xolair. i tried the " i'm fine " trick, which worked the last two

times, but this time she didn't buy it. once i told her i'd be back

at the ENTs tomorrow and it was his turn to deal with the infection,

she was okay with it. but we still have not answered the question of

the chronic infections. i've been off that nebulized cipro for two

weeks, and here i am again with another infection in my chest and

sinuses.

the dr is repeating bloodwork we had done a while back, running the

IgG, IgM, IgA and IgE (the IgE is just for fun - she's jsut curious

what it'll look like after the xolair). she is also running a

pneumococcal antibody panel. apparently, thats the cootie that

causes pnemonia, but also causes sinus infections. if the test shows

i'm not immune to that pneumococcal antibody, i'll get the pnemonia

shot and we'll retest in six weeks to make sure my body kept that

antibody. she's also thinking about a daily low dose antibiotic

(once i'm free of all infection) that i'd be on for the

entire " sick " season. i assume oct/nov through may. the idea doesn't

thrill me, but going on like this is ridiculus. its been five years

of constant infections, one after another.

she also wants me to see my regular dr (i haven't seen him in a

year!!) and get a scrip for ambien. since i'm not a good sleeper,

never was, and function on very little sleep, her thinking is that

the lack of sleep (i typically get 4-6 broken hours on a good night)

is causing my immune system to crap out.

if i call her tues, i can know the test results, or just wait until

i go back in two weeks for the xolair.

its overwhelming, but at least its a shot. all of it. the xolair has

made a world of difference, if only we could get one more puzzle

piece...

anyway, GO XOLAIR!! i've got springtime and all those healthy spring

and summer months to look forward to. i'm thinking of putting my

mountain bike in the shop, to get it all tuned up and ready for a

lot of 13 mile rides. =o)

thats the tale...

heather