So I had my semi annual state of the state meeting with my MS doc today. By and large I continue to be the healthiest sick person I know :-) Last week I had a blood draw for JCV test, a brain MRI and an LP. I am a Tysabri user so we need to keep an eye out for PML.
The blood test came back positive for JCV. The MRI shows no change from the last study, done last July. The LP results are not in yet.
My dco says that a postive serum test for JCV is not, in and of itself, a big concern for Tysabri users. More important is whether or not there are JCV antibidies present in the CSF. This indcates that there is current JCV activity. So if the CSF comes pack positive we have to talk about switching off of Tysabri. If the CSF comes back negative I'm OK for a while. We talked about what happens when I hit 24 infusions. He indicated that at that point, regardless of JCV status, We should talk about switching from Tysabri.
He told me I was a good candidate for BG-12 (ruling from FDA expected 3/28/2013). BG-12 is not as aggressive a DMD as Tysabri. Because my MS is "under control" BG-12 should be well able to keep it so. If my MS was not quite as quiet, BG-12 would not like help me. BG-12 has a much more favorable side effects profile than Tysabri with no risk of PML.
Even if my CSF comes back positive we have a reasonably wide window through which to chart our new course. I will have the results either this Sunday, my next Tysabri infusion, or shortly there after. Assuming a positive result, I would still make it through my March, if not my April, infusions. By then I'm hoping we have a favorable BG-12 ruling from the FDA.
Even if the CSF comes back negative, I sure wouldn't mind switching to an oral DMD :-)
Kyle