Follow up to Dana Farber

I went back to Dana Farber on March 10. My hematocrit had remained unchanged from a week before. The good news is that the crit had not fallen farther and the docs were not saying that I need a transfusion of red blood cells. Additional good news is that the drop in red blood cells is from Hemolysis (I am destroying the red blood cells) not cancer or myelodisplasia.

The plan is to start me on a course of infusions of Rituxan which is used to “turn off” the Hemolysis. I’m writing this email from Dr. Kasturi’s offices in Worcester where I am receiving the first of the 4 infusions of Rituxan. As is usual, when I got to the doc’s office this morning the first thing was to draw a little blood for labs. Surprise of surprises, my hematocrit is back up to where it started before the 6 pt drop a couple of weeks ago. Medical mysteries are just to keep me on my toes I guess. There is no reason to think that the Hemolysis is gone but it may mean that I am now producing red blood cells faster than I am destroying them.

As usual I feel fine.