Surgery is a challenge for everyone. It is especially a challenge for someone with MG. Dr. K was concerned that I would not make it through the surgery so he decided that I needed to be as strong as possible. I had been in the hospital by this time for about a week. I was getting weaker instead of stronger Dr. K ordered mega and I do mean mega doses of steroids and plasmaphresis also known as plasma exchange. I called it taking PE just like the school kids. There was only one nurse who was trained to do PE and she had to come over from a local clinic. The machine was about the size of a washing machine that she rolled in to my hospital room to do the PE. Dr. K believed that having several PE treatments would help strengthen me before the surgery. So, I had my first port implanted. It was a tube inserted so that the nurse could hook me up to the PE machine and circulate the blood out of my body to separate the plasma. The plasma is where all of the antibodies were building up that were keeping my muscles and my nerves from talking to each other. The port had 3 long tubes that stuck out of my chest. The tubes were hooked up to the machine. The process would take about 4 hours the first time.
It was hard to know how to feel and what to think. The consent form I signed stated that I understood by signing the form that I could DIE during or after the PE treatment. How reassuring! The PE treatment that was supposed to make me stronger could actually KILL ME!?!? My friend, Janet, came to spend the day with me. The nurse got me hooked up to the PE machine and started. It wasn't long before I began to freeze. It was a cold like nothing I have experienced before or since. I could not stop shaking. The nurses brought heated blanket after heated blanket just to help me stop shaking. I had so many blankets on me even if MG would have let me move the heaviness of the blankets would not. I did pretty well with the PE and felt so much better the next couple of days. Dr. K wanted to be sure that I would make it through the surgery so I had several PE treatments over the course of the next week and a half. Even though I could walk around the day after a PE it didn't last long. But my surgery was scheduled and I needed to keep them up.
"Your heavenly Father knows your needs. He will always give you all you need from day to day... For it gives your Father great happiness to give you the Kingdom. " Luke 12: 30-32
Sep 2, 2010
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I used to give plasma and I remember when they would start to give back my red blood cells, it was SOOO cold. And that was just a few cups. Can't imagine having it all done thataway.
ReplyDeleteBTW: Last night on the news we were told our county judge was recently diagnosed with MG. He says that for him the only symptom he has is trouble speaking sometimes. I imagine the severity of symptoms is different for everyone.