I just discovered you last night - who *else* could "filkferengi" be? (g)
The RA sounds terrible; you have my greatest sympathy (and since I've been off of Vioxx for 3 weeks in prep for the elbow surgery *this* Thursday (avoiding sharp things like crazy), all kinds of things are starting to throb and swell, probably in empathy with you!).
One question: has your doctor ever mentioned methotrexate? It is one of the chemotherapy drugs that Alec took until this new round, but it is also used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A good friend who is a nurse practitioner was suddenly struck down - literally - with RA over a year ago. It hit *all* of her joints at once, which is very unusual, and she was in agony. Once the methotrexate kicked in, it halted the damage and bit by bit the symptoms. She was able to go back to practice and everything. I asked her how she was doing a week ago, and she had a lovely answer: her doctor has declared her officially "in remission." They obviously use a different dose of methotrexate for RA than for leukemia, and Lynn had no side effects ever from it. There may be other medical reasons why its use is contraindicated in your case, but it is worth asking Ortho Guy about.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-05-04 09:34 am (UTC)I just discovered you last night - who *else* could "filkferengi" be? (g)
The RA sounds terrible; you have my greatest sympathy (and since I've been off of Vioxx for 3 weeks in prep for the elbow surgery *this* Thursday (avoiding sharp things like crazy), all kinds of things are starting to throb and swell, probably in empathy with you!).
One question: has your doctor ever mentioned methotrexate? It is one of the chemotherapy drugs that Alec took until this new round, but it is also used in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. A good friend who is a nurse practitioner was suddenly struck down - literally - with RA over a year ago. It hit *all* of her joints at once, which is very unusual, and she was in agony. Once the methotrexate kicked in, it halted the damage and bit by bit the symptoms. She was able to go back to practice and everything. I asked her how she was doing a week ago, and she had a lovely answer: her doctor has declared her officially "in remission." They obviously use a different dose of methotrexate for RA than for leukemia, and Lynn had no side effects ever from it. There may be other medical reasons why its use is contraindicated in your case, but it is worth asking Ortho Guy about.
{{{{{Hope you feel better soon}}}}}