AS Society Again

Saw Doctor Lorenzo on Thursday (June 24). Obviously he noted the improvement but asked me -- and, when I wasn't helpful, Kat -- if the walk I demonstrated was my normal walk. Kat said it could be a bit slow and asked if I could treadmill. Doctor Lorenzo said yes, although, he said, ``it'' will just come back.

The bloodtest I took the day before showed my inflammation was down to 41. (It was 52 in Feb. and 71 in March but I just noticed now that in my April test in Singapore, before I started taking Enbrel, it was already 40, so it would seem like it's the MTX that's brought it down.) The liver and kidney tests remained OK. Still, Doctor Lorenzo told me to reduce MTX to four tablets a week.

He gave me prescriptions for three months and told me to see him in three months. I asked if we should get an x-ray. He said if we wanted to document, it should be an MRI and only after six months of Enbrel. I think now that that doesn't make sense: it's the condition I want to document, not the Enbrel, and my first and last MRI was in December.

I asked either how many patients he prescribed Enbrel to, or how many could afford it. He said I was in the one or two percent. He said he doesn't even mention the drug to those who can't afford it. How does he know they can't afford it? ``You've been assessed by Doctor Lorenzo'' when you walk into the office, he joked. I asked if there were any medicine-assistance programs. He said there weren't but that if I tried to work on one, he'd support me. I said he should do it because he was the one making money off the disease. He said he wasn't making money off Enbrel because he hardly prescribed it. He said he's president of the rheumatalogy association for three years and would support me if I tried to organize an AS society or a medicine-assistance program.