Yesterday, I saw Dr. Vollmer for my check up.

Anyhow, Dr. V and I discussed my last MRI from 3 mos. ago. He said that my
therapy is doing just fine for me and that I am very stable :) He credit's
the Novantrone induction, and says that he believes that Rituxan (Rituximab) will likely be an upcoming and promising way of holding down MS.

We discussed future treatments and he says I'm doing good, so we're leaving it
as it is for now. He feels that the Novantrone/Copaxone combo has proven to be well tolerated, safe and effective and has been successful for me.

He said that technology in MS research is moving as fast as cell phones, lol so
the next few years will be bringing out alot of changes he said.......He
said the oral medications have a ways to go in studies, but he is not
against saying they may likely be just as promising at some point. I asked
him about chronic cardiac toxicity post Novantrone and he said that he feels
that any cardiac toxicity with Novantrone is acute rather than chronic. It's
been 1.5 years since my last MUGA, so I asked for another one. He did not
feel the need, but was happy to order one so that we can compare it from
before. This way, we can not only "feel" that I am fine from it, we will
KNOW. He said if I were to experience a relapse, we would likely treat me
with a 'pulse' of Novantrone and we would need the MUGA anyhow, so he was
fine to order it. I probably won't have it until sometime next month. He
said he'd call me with the results. We didn't order any MRI's.

He said no signs of brain lesion activity and I would know it if there were c spine
activity so we are going back on Sept. 4th in 6 mos. We did all the usual
neurological tests and I did better on them than usual, so I'm happy about
that too. He also said that because of my therapy and the new stuff upcoming that my chances of becoming progressive are down from 80% to 20%...
.....
He said that he no longer is afraid to say that there is a great possibility that in 10 years, I may be doing BETTER than I am now. Hard to believe, but
something to hold on too......... .

So all in all my appt. went well and I'll go back there in 6 mos!