How long will my son stay in remission?

My little boy was diagnosed on 12-13-07 with chronic itp. We had several unsuccessful treatments before he went into remission with Rituximab in June 09. He has had good check-ups twice a year since then except for a brief scare last November. I think his counts went down but came up again on their own before we saw the doctor.
Does anyone know if their are any other kids who did well with Rituximab, that are still doing good? I can't help but wonder?? And,,, our pediatrician is ready to start vaccinations again. Not sure about those either???

I don't know what I'd do with vaccinations. My son, Brady, is almost 15 and was diagnosed at age 5. He hasn't had any vaccinations since diagnosis and we haven't had to deal with this issue really, except for turning down a long-forgotten booster for the chickenpox vaccine.

As far as Rituxan - there are definitely a number of kids who went in to remission with Rituxan and have done well for a long period of time. Probably their parents don't come around here as much, so they haven't responded. You may have seen posts from Ann, Caitlin's mom. I always associate them with Rituxan success. From my admittedly poor memory, I'm thinking that Caitlin was in her teens when she received Rituxan and is now out of college. So, she has had good counts for something like 8 years.

It's difficult not to worry and have ITP in the back of your mind. But Rituxan has definitely been an amazing answer for a lot of kids (adults too) so enjoy!

I suspect there is no real way of telling for your son, but my son's haematologist reckons that rituximab responses split into rough thirds - a third get a long and sustained remission (cure?), a third get some short to medium term response, and a third get no real benefit.

Right below this thread is a decent discussion on vaccinations. I would encourage you to turn them down cold. Because one of the side of effects is ITP do you really want to take that chance again? It's a long thread but has some really good, thought provoking info on it.