When I first got diagnosed with Crohn's, I went in for a four-hour IV treatment every eight weeks. I got a hefty dose of Benedryl first thing when I got there to prevent any reactions to the medicine and it knocked me out.
My mom was really curious about what went down in the old Ambulatory Surgery Unit at Boulder Community Hospital and wanted to go with me for one treatment. I didn't think it would be too much fun for her to watch me zonk out for four hours, but moms can be weird that way. She thought it was pretty fascinating.
My medicine options have come a long way in the last five years. For a while I gave myself a shot using an epi pen every two weeks, which I wasn't very good at doing. It wasn't even the needle that was scary - it was the clicking sound that the stupid pen made that freaked me out and made me misfire (multiple times). I eventually got the hang of it though. Now I'm on a medicine where a lovely nurse comes to the house to give me a shot every 4 weeks.
The medicine (Cimzia) arrives in an oh-so-eco-friendly over sized Styrofoam package complete with chemical ice packs and bubble wrap. There were a few months in there where I had to fight with my insurance company over medicine and was amazingly relieved to finally see my environmental hazard of a package arrive.
This medicine gets administered by a nurse who comes to the house. At first, I thought this was overkill. I did master the epi pen (eventually). Even knowing that the medicine needs to be mixed together using various needles to transfer from vial to vial to syringe, I thought I could handle it. What I couldn't handle is the hard jab required to get the shot into your skin. And since Cimzia is covering even the copay for my insurance in return for my opinion on the drug, I'm more than happy to have a mad chemist/nurse do the shot part. One less thing to worry about.
The nurse is always kind enough to remark on how little flab there is to pinch for the shot. I think her other patients must be huge, or that's just nice nurse small talk because there is more than enough to grab in my opinion. The jab usually doesn't hurt, but the medicine can sometimes sting. And at the end of the day, I have two little marks on my stomach that I cover with band aids and then watch with amazement as they bruise and then fade over the next week.
I just got a shot tonight - let's hope that it kicks in and coaxes my digestive system into behaving nicely going forward.
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2 comments:
Seriously Anne, when we moved my mom and dad out of their old house and into their new house, I found LOADS of those Styrofoam boxes. It was ridiculous. We all somehow managed to find uses for all the ice packs, but those boxes are reeddiculous! Here's to hoping this cocktail gives you some relief...we can all support you in making whatever changes you need to make to get to a better place! Of course, I will miss the white wine buddy! ;)
I'm secretly hoping that by the time you can have white wine again I can too. :)
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