Hospital Revisit Day 5
We talked to Dr. Helker, the neurologist last night after our blog posting. He said that Dianne's MRI shows abnormalities but that's common for Lupus patients. It's unfortunate that Dr. Helker is a revolving neurologist and his last day was yesterday.
Today has been interesting. Dr. Cagan and Dr. Tangel feel strongly that the MRI white matter changes from January to March is from Lupus Cerebritis and want to treat it with a strong dose of prednisone.
Dr. Tran, the rheumatology who is the Lupus expert says that Dianne has no other symptoms of Lupus Cerebritis. She recommended that Dianne decreases the prednisone. Dr. Tran's recommendation is for Dianne to see her mentor, Dr. Sterling West at University Hospital in Denver.
Dr. Cagan then returned to stress his viewpoints. He's unsure what else would cause the increase in white matter on the MRI.
The main consideration is that treating the Lupus Cerebritis with prednisone has counteracting effects on fighting the lung bacteria with antibiotics. Prednisone suppresses the immune system and could leave Dianne more susceptible to infections. The effects on the bladder are unknown.
Dianne will continue taking the high dose of prednisone until Dr. Sterling from University can review her file to conclude if it is really Lupus Cerebritis. She does not want to take the prednisone near bedtime since it gives her anxiety, but feels that we need to eliminate or confirm this theory.
