And the new number is......

Drumroll......



224K. I can't remember the last time I had a count over 200K--probably after my last WinRho treatment in 2007. Now the question is....is this the rituxan, or the PopTarts?

Hey, that's great! All that from one little infusion..... :woohoo:

(Or maybe the pop tarts :whistle: )

Great number Tamar...... Wonder what side effects the pop tarts have

milly wrote: Great number Tamar...... Wonder what side effects the pop tarts have

I have not found PopTarts to have any side effects (other than being addictive.....).

Well, I'm officially declaring the low dose rituxan treatment a FAIL this time around. It brought my platelet count up over 200K for the first time in probably 10 years as you can see above, but that was VERY short lived (the next count was in the 70s) and I've been hovering between 35-60K for the last 2 months. Earlier this week my count was 48K.

I gave it a long grace period, because last time it took 29 weeks to top 100K (if memory serves). But this time there's no upward trend at all. Oh, well, it was worth a try.

(PS, I only had that one box of PopTarts, then laid off of them to see if the rituxan could hold its own....)

Tamar, I would call 35-60 a partial remission. Ellen's partial remission has lasted 11 months now, and she has needed no treatment. I hope yours lasts as well.

Pop Tarts come in some weird flavors now, maybe pumpkin has more power than strawberry.

I'd go with chocolate. Hands down!

Well, you're hanging in there at a safe range. Do you think it might have made a difference if you'd had more than one low-dose infusion? Maybe that's worth a shot next time.

My count has never been over 200 in my entire adult life. Congratulations on such wonderful results. Now I suppose I should consider "PoTart therapy" despite having never liked those things.

I'm with you, AOI, I think Poptarts are disgusting :S
Glad I don't need them to treat!

You guys probably don't toast them first. You gotta toast them! :woohoo:

Rob16 wrote: Tamar, I would call 35-60 a partial remission. Ellen's partial remission has lasted 11 months now, and she has needed no treatment. I hope yours lasts as well.

Rob, I'd agree with you if my count hadn't been hovering around 40-50K for most of 2014. Last count in 2014 was 29K, then when I visited the hematologist in early Feb I had a horrendous cold and my count was 16K. You may recall I got antibiotics for that weekend and my count was up to 100K on the day I got the rituxan.

I'm just fine with my count, though I do get some ugly bruises and occasional petiechia. I was just hoping for the 5-6 years of around 80-120K I got from the last low dose.

Sandi wrote: I'd go with chocolate. Hands down!

Well, you're hanging in there at a safe range. Do you think it might have made a difference if you'd had more than one low-dose infusion? Maybe that's worth a shot next time.

Sandi, I think I might be excluded from additional rituxan treatments due to some slight serum sickness-like symptoms. Otherwise I'd be game for another 200mg soon to see if it makes a difference on top of the 400mg in Feb.

My hema noted that my lymphocytes didn't seem to budge, even when I was up over 200K. If I drop again, I'm likely to go back to WinRho.

Sandi wrote: You guys probably don't toast them first. You gotta toast them! :woohoo:

Toasted, room-temperature, chilled, frozen, or even dehydrated... I just don't like the things. (I probably should riff on green eggs and ham here .)

Separately, I just watched a pharmacotherapy lecture earlier today in which rituxan was discussed. I'm trying to learn more about its uses in ITP and other situations.

So Chocolate poptarts it is! I'll bring that one up at my next doctors meeting! See what she thinks lol

Sorry the number didn't stay up it was a nice jump up!