Early last week, I had a blood test to check the usual levels which were all fine except one of them. The one that wasn’t fine was the CMV screening. CMV stands for Cytomegalovirus which is a virus I have in my body that has reactivated which happens with donor stem cell transplants. Ordinarily the body can fight the virus off, but as my immune system is still being suppressed, my body is unable to do that so I had to be admitted for a brutal antiviral treatment to get rid of it.
CMV is one of the most common viruses and it’s believed that half the population has it and it simply lays dormant, or if it does reactivate, the body is able to fight it off without you even knowing it has been reactivated. This virus is related to the one that causes chicken pox and glandular fever.
There are a few different treatments available for CMV reactivation and I have the nastiest. As I’m so fresh out of transplant, my blood counts aren’t strong or stable enough to have outpatient treatment hence why I have to stay here, so I’m given an antiviral treatment called Foscarnet twice a day, 12 hours apart. Foscarnet is EVIL, the side effects are horrendous and I can honestly say that some chemo drugs don’t make me feel as nauseas as this stuff. Foscarnet is quite toxic to the kidneys so during each infusion, I’m also given a litre of fluids via IV to protect my kidneys and bladder. Pretty much every other day, I have to have calcium, phosphates, magnesium and potassium to keep my levels up. Foscarnet clings onto the salts in the body and depletes the body of essential minerals it needs.
Please keep Kat, and Ade, her husband and caregiver, in your prayers. Her courageous fight with Double Hit B Cell Lymphoma through all of the bumps in the road since she first started blogging in September, 2012 has been incredible .
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