63.  PEACE!  My Blood Levels Return to Normal!

              “Life did not stop, and one had to live.” 

                                                            ― Leo Tolstoy, War and Peace

Merry Christmas all!  

I want to tell you about the BEST ever Christmas present:  HSCT - allowing yet another person to leave CIDP and autoimmune illness behind - and to live!

Well, at 7 months post-HSCT, I can report that the doubt I had last month is gone. And with it almost all of the joint pain and a lot of the nerve pain. Also gone are all the meds for pain!  Yup! I'm still feeling nerve pain from old damage, but I'm able now to finally let go of even that one Tramadol at night. I haven't had one for 2 weeks. YAY!

Along with those "no more" statements I can tell you that I also have no more side effects from the meds associated with treatment for CIDP.

THAT IS HUGE!  

Let me say it again:  I no longer have the serious side effects of the treatments for CIDP.  No more elevated blood pressure (last Christmas eve it reached 215/195, sending me to emergency room, and that was post-IVIg side effect). I no longer have intense migraine following IVIg, because I no longer have to rely upon IVIg to slow my errant immune system from its aggressive relentless attack on my own nerve linings.

WOW, huh!

And I no longer am tied to an IV pole 3 days of 21, nor unable to plan anything in the 1-7 days following IVIg, in which time it was almost assured I would have a migraine.  I am free! I can walk better.

And get this one:

My energy is back to pre-CIDP normals. I have energy to spare. I no longer drag through my day, unable to function well beyond 5 pm, and I no longer require at least 12 hours of sleep just to get that level of slogginess for the other 12 hours.  This might be my very favorite result of HSCT - my returned energy levels.  I no longer feel like I'm fighting a bad flu or pneumonia every waking moment. I can make plans and take trips again without consulting my IVIg schedule, or worrying that if I stay more than 3 weeks, I'll either have a migraine at the onset of travel, or have further nerve demyelination toward the end of travel. THIS is huge!

I have my life back.  

What a gift it is I have received this year. And I extend my eternal gratitude that HSCT was made available for me in Moscow by my dear Dr. Fedorenko and his choir of angels - the staff there at Pirogov.

I have PEACE after my long battle - at last!  

My blood tests (CBC) have returned to normal. I now have only to allow some more time for old damage to heal. And that's just time.  Just take a look - just got word my liver is fine, organs are all fine - my bloods back in normal ranges:

Just my short posting today - the most important post to date for me.  I am 7 month post-HSCT, and I have beaten my dragon: CIDP. I am whole! 

Merry Christmas to all, and to all - a good, GOOD night!