Today marks a little over a week since the Kidney biopsy. Today I was ready to face the music from results to updates it was time. I had two back to back appointments earlier today: Appt #1 with my renal specialist and Appt #2 with my rheumatologist.
Kidney specialist follow-up:
- She stated that there is Lupus nephritis present and a different type of medication is needed to treat this. She said that she is happy that it was caught early to stay on top of it.
- There are two types of biologics: Benlysta and Obinutuzumab. Benlysta is monthly infusions or weekly self injections. Whereas Obinutuzumab is an infusion every 6 months and it is a bit stronger. This was the one that was recommended to me.
- One of the main goals is to get me off of Prednisone. She explained how I am too young to be on it as well as it has too many side effects.
- We ended off the appointment with her stating that my hemoglobin increased to 9.6 which is the best I had for a while. Good to know the infusion is working.
Rheumatologist follow-up:
- This appointment was with my regular Rheum & her colleague. Before coming in, all 3 were able to debrief about my results.
- The two facilitated a a body exam and noticed that my right ankle is extremely swollen. They were shocked because I am taking all of these meds and my body is still flaring. But she stated my body has a tendency to do this even on high meds. In the past there was: chest pain, body aches and flaring. This goes back to the main concern of my Lupus not having a baseline.
- They were concerned with my absorption of the medications. They felt as though my body is not absorbing all of the Prednisone so I was given an alternative medication to keep the flares under control. They offered to drain my ankle but I declined since the drainage of my knee in January is still giving me issues.
We went into a little more detail about my biopsy results. My Rheum explained that my Lupus Nephritis is level/class 3. There are 6 different classes of Lupus Nephritis and I am just in the middle. There will be a lot of adjusting of my medications because of this. I do not know how to feel about all this I think because this is fresh. I did not think that pain in November would result in being Lupus Nephritis. I have enough on my plate so this is just a lot to deal with. But as always, I am allowing myself to sit with my emotions and figure out what I will do with this new detour in my Lupus journey. As always, I will keep you all posted along the way. Until next time!
In The Lup With Munah 