Visit to Haematologist

Yesterday I finally got to visit a haematologist. This is something I had been looking forward to for some time in order to fill in some of the blanks, absent in a purely neurological diagnosis. IgM MGUS is of course really a blood/immunological disease with resulting neurological symptoms.
The haematologist reviewed my last blood test information. Electrophoresis results showed a decline in the IgM level from 3.73 in May 2007 to 2.46 in October 2008, a drop of over 30% . This is further evidence of the encouraging effects of Rituxan treatment.
The haematologist has scheduled a CT scan of my abdomen and pelvis to check the lymph nodes. Also they have scheduled a bone marrow biopsy to check for NHL or other possible diseases. At that time, it is planned to discuss a program for regular blood testing to monitor the situation, and watch for changes which might indicate a cancerous condition (approx 1% per year transfer to cancer).
All of this is encouraging because it adds to the database in order to better understand underlying changes and react more quickly if further treatments are needed.
Finally, I am hopnig that they don’t find anything, but if they do, I’d be in the same category as you, Norb, in that I’d be able to get coverage for the Rituxan treatments. Bad news/good news situation I guess.
One other thing is that I have to go in to give a blood sample for the anti-MAG test to be conducted at University of Washington in Missouri sometime in the next few days. Results can take 6 weeks or so, but I’ll let you know when I get them.
That’s the update on my battle with IgM MGUS.
Andrew