Thursday, July 31, 2008

Positive News!

Met with my rhumatologist this morning and my labs looked better today! Yeah! That means the Prendisone is doing it's job of keeping my joints and kidneys from flarring up! She is even going to start me on a lower dose so I can hopefully get completely off of it..that is my ultimate goal... to not be on any drugs. This drug also has side effects I don't like, like weight gain and not sleeping well at night so the less I can be on this drug the better! However, I am thankful there are medications out there that are keeping my kidneys from failing and I guess no sleep and some extra weight are a small price to pay than having kidney failure.

She also gave me more positive news! She told me that I do have a chance of my kidneys being back to 100% capability (or close to) someday and she even said granted my biopsy looks good, and I don't need chemo, we could maybe still have more kids someday! (Not until I am in the inactive stage of this disease though and have talked well through it with many professionals...definetely something we won't be discussing for awhile...however very positive news!)

She did put me on another medication called hydroxychloroquine which is suppose to also help protect my kidneys from any future flare ups. She said this drug has very low side effects/risks/etc and most lupus patients are on it. As much as I hate drugs, I agreed to take it out of her recommendation. I'm starting to feel like an 80 year old woman taking 8+ pills a day, but have hopes that someday I will be down to zero or even just 1!

So now I am just waiting to schedule my biopsy and take things from there. Hopefully I will be able to post more positive news in the coming weeks! Thank you all for your prayers and support, there is a light at the end of the tunnel:)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anne-

That is wonderful news!! Prayers do work:)

Kristin

Anonymous said...

Anne,

I want you to know that I have just finished praying for you again. I want to encourage you to hold on to Jesus, as He will always hold on to you. He will not fail you, but will bring you, in the end, to Himself. Paul tells us in Romans 8 that these present sufferings are not even worth comparing to the Glory that awaits us. Although it is hard, and I cannot imagine how hard, I can promise you, as Jesus did, that He is wrapping His arms around you because you are His little girl. For now, I will continue to pray for you and to love you from afar, because God tells us in Galatians 6 to bear each others burdens. I love, you, sis, and I love your little boys and your big boy too!

You are in my prayers always.

Rev. Christian Wood

Anonymous said...

Hurrah!!!!!! I love good news and it helps me sleep better knowing there's been improvement in your condition. We'll keep on doing our part in prayers too.

We love you Anne!

Mom and Ron