Well, after weeks of appeals and trying to get my insurance to cover my plasmapheresis treatments, they have finally been approved!!!
Now we can see how this treatment will affect my symptoms (muscle weakness, muscle cramps, muscle stiffness, fatigue, generally feeling sick) and most importantly, we will get to see if it shrinks my brain lesions. For sure, the strange antibodies I've got are causing my symptoms, but we aren't sure if they are causing my brain lesions. Either way this treatment will be a good thing, but we are REALLLLLY hoping it will be the trick to helping my brain lesions. If my brain lesions shrink, then it means this is an autoimmune process attacking my brain. If not, then we are back to the drawing board to determine a diagnosis.
WHAT IS PLASMAPHERESIS?
Plasmapheresis, or Plasma Exchange is a process where they remove plasma from the blood supply, for the purpose of removing harmful antibodies that live in the plasma. To do this, they will remove my blood supply, filter out the plasma, replace the plasma with albumin, and then return my filtered blood back to my body. All of this happens simultaneously, so that there is never too much blood outside my body at once. There is a giant machine that spins and filters the blood, and combines it with the plasma replacement. I've actually had this treatment once before (only for a week). I tolerated it pretty well. It makes me feel very tired and faint, but the end goal is that it will make me stronger, as it removes the harmful antibodies that are causing damage and making me sick.
TREATMENT PLAN
This time the treatments will be twice a week for eight weeks. Because there will be so many treatments, we are going to place a central line in my chest that can be used instead of a temporary jugular IV, like I had last time (that one wasn't fun either!! 😝) At the end of the treatments, we will repeat my MRI to see if there has been any change to my brain lesions. If it has, then it will confirm that the antibodies are attacking my brain, in addition to my body. If not, then we have to assume to two processes are separate, and we have to consider other possibilities for my brain lesions.
Either way, I am grateful these treatments have been approved. Sadly, it's still going to be very expensive (over $3,000) for all the treatments, but if my insurance hadn't approved this, we couldn't do it at all. So I'm really grateful for that. I am praying this treatment will work! Thanks everyone for your support and prayers, it means so much to us!
Now we can see how this treatment will affect my symptoms (muscle weakness, muscle cramps, muscle stiffness, fatigue, generally feeling sick) and most importantly, we will get to see if it shrinks my brain lesions. For sure, the strange antibodies I've got are causing my symptoms, but we aren't sure if they are causing my brain lesions. Either way this treatment will be a good thing, but we are REALLLLLY hoping it will be the trick to helping my brain lesions. If my brain lesions shrink, then it means this is an autoimmune process attacking my brain. If not, then we are back to the drawing board to determine a diagnosis.
WHAT IS PLASMAPHERESIS?
Plasmapheresis, or Plasma Exchange is a process where they remove plasma from the blood supply, for the purpose of removing harmful antibodies that live in the plasma. To do this, they will remove my blood supply, filter out the plasma, replace the plasma with albumin, and then return my filtered blood back to my body. All of this happens simultaneously, so that there is never too much blood outside my body at once. There is a giant machine that spins and filters the blood, and combines it with the plasma replacement. I've actually had this treatment once before (only for a week). I tolerated it pretty well. It makes me feel very tired and faint, but the end goal is that it will make me stronger, as it removes the harmful antibodies that are causing damage and making me sick.
TREATMENT PLAN
This time the treatments will be twice a week for eight weeks. Because there will be so many treatments, we are going to place a central line in my chest that can be used instead of a temporary jugular IV, like I had last time (that one wasn't fun either!! 😝) At the end of the treatments, we will repeat my MRI to see if there has been any change to my brain lesions. If it has, then it will confirm that the antibodies are attacking my brain, in addition to my body. If not, then we have to assume to two processes are separate, and we have to consider other possibilities for my brain lesions.
Either way, I am grateful these treatments have been approved. Sadly, it's still going to be very expensive (over $3,000) for all the treatments, but if my insurance hadn't approved this, we couldn't do it at all. So I'm really grateful for that. I am praying this treatment will work! Thanks everyone for your support and prayers, it means so much to us!
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