Gloves off

Well, I knew I’d be tempting fate to say that I was feeling fitter and more mobile. It seems that the old MonSter has found a chink in the armour and has left its footprint behind in the form of a few new spots on the MRI.

My neurologist has decided to advise exactly what I wanted him to do which is to nuke the f**ker.

Even though they’re four or five small lesions, he’s decided that because I reported an increase in disability (decreased mobility) at our online meeting last autumn, we should take no prisoners.

He basically handed me a menu and asked what I’d like to try.

So, after a weekend reading the excellent info on the MS Trust website, I ended up talking to one of my MS nurses, about my choice. After about 15 minutes of life-affirming chit chat about music, life, Gideon Coe’s radio show, vinyl collecting and so on, my wife decided it was time to roll her eyes and tap her watch and we addressed the matter at hand.

So, in summary, it’s ocrelizumab that I’m going to go with, aka Ocrevus.

I’m choosing it because it’s one of the most highly effective DMDs available to someone with relapsing remitting MS and although it has its side effects – I’ll be compromising my immune system somewhat – that list is relatively short compared to the other main candidate Alemtuzumab. It’s the usual trick of deciding what’s effective and balancing the advantages against the disadvantages and the likelihoods against the will-never-happens and ocrelizumab tends to float to the surface more often.

There are a few bits and bobs to go through first. My neurologist needs to apply for funding and I need to provide some blood so they can do the usual liver and white cell measurements plus a few new ones such as a thyroid test and then it’s just a matter of getting booked in for the infusions. I’ve had my Covid jabs as well, so that’s a major hurdle over with.

Initially it’s a case of having the meds dripped into my vein over the course of a day and then returning for another session a week later. After this I need topping up every six months or so. And that’s it! No setting reminders on my phone; no room taken up in the fridge by boxes of needles; no worrying about packing for holidays. I’ll just turn up at the hospital on time and have a sit down for a few hours twice a year while I get pumped full of B-cell killing nastiness and Bob’s your uncle. I can even legitimately take it easy for a couple of days afterwards as the initial side-effects apparently take a while to wear off.

So, the potential side effects for me range from the less serious infusion reactions (the team at the hospital can slow down or stop the infusion if they feel it necessary) to the more serious ones involved with what will, after all, be a weakened immune system. I’ll be more prone to infections, particularly of the respiratory tract, for instance, so I’ll have to watch out for any persistent coughs, breathing difficulties and so on.

There’s also a minutely small chance of getting Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy (PML), a rare brain infection that the MS Trust reassuringly tells me usually leads to death or severe disability. I’ll know what to look out for though. I’ll be looking out for brain-related wrongness, or in other words, symptoms that sound like MS. Nice and easy.

So, there we have it. It’s been a while since I last had my defences breached so I feel reassured that we’re responding quite aggressively, and I also feel reassured that we’re not looking at Secondary Progressive MS which is what I had feared. To find out that there’s new activity on your scan, despite your best efforts at keeping the MonSter at bay, can be so deflating, but a plan of action does give a real confidence boost… Bring it on!