Fans of the early Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny cartoons will remember the 1945 short " Hare Tonic". In which Bugs convinces the ever dim-witted Elmer Fudd that he is infected with "Rabititus" after Elmer brings him home from the market to cook for a stew. Elmer soon after begins to display the symptoms of "Rabititus": seeing spots, coated tongue (coat and pair of pants), and finally seeing himself in the mirror as a rabbit. Of course Bugs soon arrives in the guise of Dr. Killpatient to set everything right...
Well today Ann got a real dose of "Rabititus". Specifically today she got another bag of Fludarabine followed by Antithymocyte Globulin (Rabbit) or Rabbit ATG for short. Rabbit ATG is not really a drug, but anti-bodies collected from rabbits that have been engineered to attack human T-cells. T-cells are the part of the immune system that destroy tumor or virally infected cells, they are in effect the middle-management of the immune system world. However, they also tend to attack transplanted tissue, so in this case they gotta go. Downsized out of existence as it were...
I can almost imagine a picturesque day where the sun shines down out of a baby blue sky on a busy metropolis populated by thousands and thousands of middle-management business types (Ann's T-cells). They are all dressed alike in oxford suits and bowler hats and greet each other with utterances of " harrumph" and " pardon me old chap". Gradually the sky darkens and a vast and terrible shadow is cast over this little scene. Eyes are cast up wards, and shocked exclamations of " I say!" and " My Word!" are heard as an endless wave of cute and adorable, but oh so blood thirsty rabbits with sharp pointy teeth descend from heaven !
A bit Pythonesque but still...
After the infusion of the "Hair Tonic" Ann is feeling like crap. She is officially neutropenic today as her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) and WBC counts dropped below 1 K/uL today. She has not been able to eat anything besides about 2/3rd of a croissant, and a few tablespoons of apple sauce. About 4 hours after getting the Rabbit ATG, Ann started to complain of chills then developed a fever. Which has gotten as high as 39 C or 102.2 F so far.
The staff here doesn't seem to be too concerned about the fever as it is a common side effect of the Rabbit ATG. They have Ann on observation and are anticipating the fever breaking once Ann's immune system is overwhelmed by the attack of the rabbits. If it doesn't it could mean that the fever is not from the ATG, but from a invading bug instead. Thats the very, very last thing we need as it would postpone her transplant indefinitely until they could control it with antibiotics.
Well today Ann got a real dose of "Rabititus". Specifically today she got another bag of Fludarabine followed by Antithymocyte Globulin (Rabbit) or Rabbit ATG for short. Rabbit ATG is not really a drug, but anti-bodies collected from rabbits that have been engineered to attack human T-cells. T-cells are the part of the immune system that destroy tumor or virally infected cells, they are in effect the middle-management of the immune system world. However, they also tend to attack transplanted tissue, so in this case they gotta go. Downsized out of existence as it were...
A bit Pythonesque but still...
After the infusion of the "Hair Tonic" Ann is feeling like crap. She is officially neutropenic today as her ANC (Absolute Neutrophil Count) and WBC counts dropped below 1 K/uL today. She has not been able to eat anything besides about 2/3rd of a croissant, and a few tablespoons of apple sauce. About 4 hours after getting the Rabbit ATG, Ann started to complain of chills then developed a fever. Which has gotten as high as 39 C or 102.2 F so far.
The staff here doesn't seem to be too concerned about the fever as it is a common side effect of the Rabbit ATG. They have Ann on observation and are anticipating the fever breaking once Ann's immune system is overwhelmed by the attack of the rabbits. If it doesn't it could mean that the fever is not from the ATG, but from a invading bug instead. Thats the very, very last thing we need as it would postpone her transplant indefinitely until they could control it with antibiotics.