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Show 312 Plasmapharesis "It's sort of a washing machine for your blood," she is saying. It is a large thing, heavily pushed into my room on its wheels, vaguely the size and shape of a washing machine. There is a row of hooks attached to a long bar above the far side ofthe contraption. She is the plasamapharesis technician. Dr. Emerson has suggested this option even though jtjs only a barely published idea as a treatment for stiff-man syndrome, really not much more than an experiment at this point. The science seems good, however; if stiff-man syndrome is, in fact, caused by a rogue antibody, it would make sense to try to remove those antibodies from my blood. "We remove the blood, little by little, from your body through this," she is saying, holding up an IV line with a rather long and sturdy needle attached to its end, "and run it through the 'spin cycle' on the machine." She is smiling wryly at her analogy. "Then we return it - hopefully minus the stiff-man antibody - back to your body through this." She is holding up another line with another large needle. "It is important that you tell me if you ever feel light-headed, or see spots before your eyes or anything else that might make you think you are about to faint," she is saying, pricking my forearm in several places with local anesthetic. "Especially if your lips tingle," she adds. I look away |
