Update...

The insurance has approved Blake's Retuxin treatments. YEAH!!! I am not sure when they are going to start the treatments. I think the doctor is still waiting for some "official" paperwork to come from the insurance company.

Pray that this treatment will work. It is the last thing the doctors can think to try.

UPDATE... PLEASE PRAY...
It has been a while since I have had any real news to report, I figured no news was good news, however that doesn't seem to be the case. Blake had a doctors appointment on Friday and his doctor told him that the plasma pheresis is not working. The doctor is really discouraged because it is not common for the pheresis to not work. In almost all cases it does. He said that in some cases they have to leave the patient on pheresis for 6 months, but it still works. The difference with Blake is that his levels are not changing at all. His proteins continue to stay high, and they would have liked to see some change by now.

At this time they have decided to finish the rest of his treatment for the week and then stop treatment. He meets with the doctor again on Friday to discuss what to do next. Basically the doctor has told my brother that there is one more treatment they can try to put the FSGS into remission. It is a drug actually used for lymphoma patients and is a form of chemo. The drug is called Rituxan. It is used as a last resort because of its harshness and side effects (his side effects would not be exactly the same as a cancer patient; it would not be as bad, however not fun to say the least), but in other patients it has proven to be successful in conquering FSGS. The other catch is that this treatment is really expensive, so the doctor is going to really have to push the insurance company to cover it. So please pray that the this will go through without too much hassle.

That is all the information I have at the moment. Please be praying for the doctors wisdom and direction during this process. Pray for peace and patience for my brother and my family.

I will update you as soon as I know anything on Friday.

Oh, I wanted to add that my parents have also spoken with Blake's old doctors at USC Medical just to see what they thought and if they had any new ideas on treatments. They were basically saying that they would be doing the same treatments, so at least we have confidence that we have exhausted every outlet. Blake is dealing with some of the best doctors in the nation and his primary doctor is considered to be one of the top nephrologists in the world. At least we know he is in good hands.

Blake's New Baby.... "BEAST"

As we all know Blake has had a little bit of a miserable couple of months (if not longer). So, he finally had it and decided to have a little bit of fun. He got himself a car! It is a 1966 Dodge Charger and it has a 1970, 440 engine. I guess it is quite the BEAST (hence the name). This should keep him busy for a while and his mind off kidney stuff.

Thanks for your continued prayers. There is not anything new really to report besides that he is continuing plasma pheresis. His labs have shown that is creatinine is back down, but they are still having a difficult time with his proteins.