Russ's surgery went well in Febuary, his meniscus tear was only twenty percent. The ACL was not torn only stretched out. Therefore, they used a laser to strengthen and refirm it once more. So the ACL did not require any replacing nor suturing. Which we are very thankful for, they repaired the small tear in the meniscus. Russ is doing really well now with that knee. The swelling on the right knee has not decreased much and he has had two more falls with it since he had surgery on the left one. Both falls occured at work, the first only resulted in a sprain the other was tonight in which we will have to wait to see what it up with this fall now. Therefore, we are pretty worried about Russ' right knee currently. He had his yearly MRI for his MS, which was no change--that's good news. It means the Tysabri is working at keeping the MS from progressing. However, Russ has been having some more difficulty with dragging his right leg and it feeling heavy too. Also, he has had some severe sensitivity in his right palm. The doctor felt he may have had an episode/flare-up. At...

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Tags: dizzy spells, health, knee surgery, menieres, ms, scans, specialist

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Posted at: 01:41 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink

It's been about seven months now and they seem to be agreeing with him. His condition hasn't improved but it actually hasn't gotten worse much either. That's what the doctor says is good news and that the Tysabri is doing it's job. So we continue on with the treatments. One day per month, and we are still trying to get NORD to help with the cost. Especially since I am no longer working due to my Menieres has flared up and it can actually now be Fibromyalgia that I am contending with, I see a specialist on Feb. 26th.

In the meantime, Russ had surgery on Dec. 28t, 2007 on his Right knee -- which is severly affected by his MS. It had a meniscus tear of 20% the doctor thought but when he went in found it to be 80% torn and he repaired it then.

Now on Feb. 22, 2008 Russ will be having surgery on his Left Knee -- which is a result from a fall at work back in July 2007. He tore the meniscus then too. But, also some damage to the ACL was done. We have tried the alternative therapy routes to no avail...

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Tags: knee surgery, meniscus, nord, tysabri treatments

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Posted at: 12:50 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink

The new shots didn't work for Russ as he lost 16 lbs. Therefore in August he began a new therapy the Tysabri IV therapy. The side effects are actually mild compared to the shots he was on. He gets diarrhea that lasts appox. 8-10 hrs. and some achiness but that's about all. He missed his IV therapy session last week due to being sick. He is only getting one treatment per month--but it is very very expensive. The insurance does pay 3/4's of the cost it seems -- however that still leaves us with about a thousand dollars. That wouldn't be too bad if the therapy had an end to it like after 6 months of treatment but it doesn't this is a LIFETIME monthly treatment and that kind of cost is practically everything he brings home and what he does have left is what covers his other medications he uses. Therefore ALL of his check is going on medications and I don't work full time as I am partially disabled and just back in the work force and off disability myself. So this is a very interesting situation -- but God willing a solution will be found and come...

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Tags: disability, iv therapy, ms, tysabri therapy

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Posted at: 05:11 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink

We said our vows and had a picture taken outside the courthouse,
since cameras aren't allowed inside it, before we left Idaho, headed
for Nevada. We went to Jackpot Nevada to go play our hand with lady
luck and go Golfing. We had fun playing the slots, we made about
$30.00 there but had alot of fun doing so. We were dubbed the Jackpot
Newlyweds and everywhere we went everyone recognized us -- ever since
when we first got there and we to the buffet they were asking for a
Players Club card so we could get a discount and I announced we Just
Got Married about 4 hours earlier and Can we still get a discount
eventhough we don't have a card?! We got the discount and a free
bottle of Champagne! Then everywhere we went it was "Aren't you the
Newlyweds?" LOL -- it was fun though. We enjoyed the food everywhere
we ate and the people were great, as was the service....we golfed and
had fun, the back 9 we were on all by ourselves which was neat. At
breakfast, after checking out, on the morn of our departure, I
decided to play Keno again (eventhough I... [More]

Tags: golfing, jackpot nevada, keno, married, newlyweds, players club card, vows

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Posted at: 05:07 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink

My boyfriend has had MS for over twenty years now. It has now become harder to bear for him. About 4 months ago we went to a sympossium together. We heard about a few treatment options. The doctor there was a very intelligent speaker with alot of information on MS. He worked in a town about an hours drive from us. So we asked afterwards if he was taking new patients and he was, therefore we got Russ into him as soon as possible. I worked the day of the appointment unfortunately, so he went without me. However, he swung by the hospital afterwards, where I work, to inform me he had over $1,500 in medication in the truck. The doctor had given him the first month's worth of the shot therapy to start with right way. He began taking the injections at 6pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday subqutaneously for about five weeks. He experienced the side effects of flu like symptoms which were expected. However, the symptoms didn't abate any they only worsened and the second shot into the fifth week he ended up with dizziness exceeding sixteen hours. It was then that I called his doctor and was told...

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Tags: flu symptoms, injections, ms, rebiff

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Posted at: 02:39 PM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink