Good Mice vs. Bad Mice

Dave and I have learned more about cancer in the last two months than I ever thought possible. Sometimes we nod our heads and say, "Yeah, that makes sense." And other times it comes out more like an, "Are you kidding me?" This fun-filled fact was definitely the later.

As you know, Dave took Epratuzimab via IV on Wednesday. This is a monoclonal antibody created from human DNA. The very unscientific explanation of this drug is it's grown from human DNA. As I wrote earlier, Dave didn't have a reaction to this drug.

Yesterday, Dave spent 8 hours receiving Rituxin via IV. This, too, is a monoclonal antibody, but it isn't all human DNA. Here is the crazy part I was telling you about earlier. Rituxin is half human DNA and half mice DNA. So they literally pumped Dave full of mice DNA for several hours. He, of course, thinks this is humorous and lived much of the day in full character. He asked for cheese and nibbled on anything and everything he could...including me. ha ha!

Dave didn't have any problems with Rituxin until we got home. About 30 minutes after getting in the door, he began to have uncontrollable shivering and spiked a fever. I loaded him up with blankets and a heating pad, but then he began to vomit. He will tell you that he was just fine, I would tell you it was scary to watch. (And he calls me stubborn!) The good news is he was able to fall asleep early and was feeling good around 3 a.m. when his fever broke.

He's still in bed this morning, but I've checked on him a few times and he seems to be back to his normal self. No fever, chills, or request for cheese.

Yesterday he did so well throughout the day that I kept saying, "Those must have been some good mice they used." But after Dave's reaction last night, I wanted to change my mind and call them bad mice. However, if those little mice save his life, I don't care what kind they are....they can move in if they want!

Next week we return to The James for treatment, but this time they will combine the Rituxin and Epratuzimab into one day. Doesn't that sound fun? We are also meeting with what I've heard is one of the head transplant doctors in the country to talk about a possible bone marrow transplant down the road. More info on that later.

Hope you are all enjoying the start of the weekend! I know Dave and I are going to make the most of it!