treatment post #2
(Still can't think of a better name for this series)
I went for my second visit to Dr. Ong yesterday at Cardinal Santos. She's the rheumatologist I keep mentioning. In the waiting room I was greeted again by her loyal patient, a Miss Lourdes.
She's roughly 80 years old and walks with a cane. She has arthritis, too, and she prefers natural medicine over commercially sold drugs. I know all this because during my first visit last week, we had a really long chat about life as an arthritis patient.
She had probably been surprised to see a person my age at a rheumatologist's waiting room, so she had asked me what my sickness was. That kind of spurred a conversation that literally lasted for hours, with her doing most of the talking of course. She gave me all sorts of pointers, like how oranges makes the pain worse, how fish is the best, etc etc.
Okay anyway, she was present again yesterday, and we sort of compared notes. What did Doc Ong tell you last week? How have you been? Apparently she went to Subic for the Holy Week.
Then another old lady showed up asked me the same questions Miss Lourdes did. Why are you here? Nako, ang bata bata mo pa, may arthritis ka na... Man, some old ladies really love to talk. I mostly don't mind. I like to listen, anyway. Old Lady #2 is really into God and stuff. She even showed me this book she got called "How the Bible can Heal your Arthritis." How oddly specific.
Anyway, when finally it was my turn (aftern seeing a lot more old people in the waiting room), the Dr. Ong checked out the results of my lab tests and said that everything was okay. I mean, my eosinophil and neutrophil counts are high and my Vitamin D3 levels are low, but all of that is normal in an arthritis patient. All of that indicate inflammatory action, which of course is what's going on in my joints.
She said that it was okay because my creatinine and SGPT levels were normal, which meant that we could proceed with the standard treatment: three methotrexate tablets, taken thrice a day on one day of the week.
The common side effects of methotrexate include nausea, headaches, colds, flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, and diarrhoea. Since they take a day to manifest, I should take methotrexate on a Friday so that it won't disturb any school activities I may have. Which probably means I'll be spending my Saturdays bogged down in bed.
I was also told that I can start on my other treatment, a biologic agent called actemra, next Tuesday. Actemra is drug administered through an IV infusion. The infusion will take about two hours, and I'll get it at UST.
The infusion typically costs 39,000 pesos. But since it's my first dose, I get to buy it for 19,824. Yeah, it's really not cheap. Hayayayay.
Tomorrow I'll be finishing up with my baseline tests. I just have to get a PPD skin test since I already did my chest X-ray earlier.
Hayyyy. Expenses, expenses. Thinking about how expensive the treatment is, compounded with the costs of med school, always makes me despair. Sometimes I despair enough to want to call off the treatmenr altogether. But in those dark moments, I remember Rap telling me that this is one of those times when I need to let myself be loved. It's actually pretty hard, letting other people care for you, but sometimes you just have to let them love you. I deserve it. You deserve it.
Oh, and this is a picture of Miss Lourdes. I tried to be as discreet as possible when taking it.
I went for my second visit to Dr. Ong yesterday at Cardinal Santos. She's the rheumatologist I keep mentioning. In the waiting room I was greeted again by her loyal patient, a Miss Lourdes.
She's roughly 80 years old and walks with a cane. She has arthritis, too, and she prefers natural medicine over commercially sold drugs. I know all this because during my first visit last week, we had a really long chat about life as an arthritis patient.
She had probably been surprised to see a person my age at a rheumatologist's waiting room, so she had asked me what my sickness was. That kind of spurred a conversation that literally lasted for hours, with her doing most of the talking of course. She gave me all sorts of pointers, like how oranges makes the pain worse, how fish is the best, etc etc.
Okay anyway, she was present again yesterday, and we sort of compared notes. What did Doc Ong tell you last week? How have you been? Apparently she went to Subic for the Holy Week.
Then another old lady showed up asked me the same questions Miss Lourdes did. Why are you here? Nako, ang bata bata mo pa, may arthritis ka na... Man, some old ladies really love to talk. I mostly don't mind. I like to listen, anyway. Old Lady #2 is really into God and stuff. She even showed me this book she got called "How the Bible can Heal your Arthritis." How oddly specific.
Anyway, when finally it was my turn (aftern seeing a lot more old people in the waiting room), the Dr. Ong checked out the results of my lab tests and said that everything was okay. I mean, my eosinophil and neutrophil counts are high and my Vitamin D3 levels are low, but all of that is normal in an arthritis patient. All of that indicate inflammatory action, which of course is what's going on in my joints.
She said that it was okay because my creatinine and SGPT levels were normal, which meant that we could proceed with the standard treatment: three methotrexate tablets, taken thrice a day on one day of the week.
The common side effects of methotrexate include nausea, headaches, colds, flu-like symptoms, muscle aches, and diarrhoea. Since they take a day to manifest, I should take methotrexate on a Friday so that it won't disturb any school activities I may have. Which probably means I'll be spending my Saturdays bogged down in bed.
I was also told that I can start on my other treatment, a biologic agent called actemra, next Tuesday. Actemra is drug administered through an IV infusion. The infusion will take about two hours, and I'll get it at UST.
The infusion typically costs 39,000 pesos. But since it's my first dose, I get to buy it for 19,824. Yeah, it's really not cheap. Hayayayay.
Tomorrow I'll be finishing up with my baseline tests. I just have to get a PPD skin test since I already did my chest X-ray earlier.
Hayyyy. Expenses, expenses. Thinking about how expensive the treatment is, compounded with the costs of med school, always makes me despair. Sometimes I despair enough to want to call off the treatmenr altogether. But in those dark moments, I remember Rap telling me that this is one of those times when I need to let myself be loved. It's actually pretty hard, letting other people care for you, but sometimes you just have to let them love you. I deserve it. You deserve it.
Oh, and this is a picture of Miss Lourdes. I tried to be as discreet as possible when taking it.
posted from Bloggeroid
She can't be 80 years old! She looks younger than that. Thanks, Rap, for the words of encouragement and for always being there. Don't worry about the cost, dear. We can afford it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for publishing such great information. You are doing such a great job. This information is very helpful for everyone. Keep it up. Thanks. rheumatologist katy tx
ReplyDelete