"No Pain. No Pain. No Pain." - Rocky Balboa

 
I've noticed something about myself lately. I'm terrible at drawing analogies. Yet despite my known deficiency in this area, I keep trying to make things analogous. I will blurt out "that's just like this situation blah-blah-blah" and before I can finish my sentence even I know that I'm not making sense.

This may be one of those times.

I had a kidney appointment this week, and I learned that the four Rituxan treatments from July are, in fact, making a difference. In particular, my serum albumin has improved and my protein spillage has decreased. My kidney doctor feels very positive about my progress.

I walked out of my appointment and immediately thought: I am Rocky Balboa, and I just cut Ivan Drago.

I'm still in the ring and still fighting the powerful bully. And the effort is working. (Anyone who is not a child of the 80s and doesn't know Rocky IV by heart, check out the video link above.)

I just heard the bell for Round Two. I have four more infusions scheduled, beginning in late January. These are weekly infusions that will kick my butt but will hopefully help me ultimately defeat fibrillary glomerulonephritis (that's Ivan Drago for those of you unable to follow my spot-on analogy!).

As I mentally prepare for another round of Rituxan, I keep thinking to myself: "No pain. No pain. No pain."

Let's do this!