Better

Or something like it

It's been 3 weeks since I saw the new doc. He put me back on more steroids, which seem to be helping. I'm trying to get back into some yoga and light working out so I can feel like less of a blob for Hawaii. (Did I tell you all that we're visiting Hawaii soon? I'm pretty stoked for some sunshine and relaxation. BTW, if you have any good tips for the Big Island, please share.) 

I felt pretty sorry for myself for a while, and angry at the whole situation. I had to talk to so many different people for the new med...the hospital, med reps, nurse ambassador (who I'm pretty sure is Jane Lynch's sister or cousin or something), pharmacy reps, insurance people, and others that I don't even know what they do. It was lucky that we're in a later time zone so I could call them before work, but I got so burned out having to talk to all these people and getting so much information to try and keep straight. I mean I'm still trying to figure it all out.

Anyway I was supposed to get my meds just before Christmas. Luckily I had the day off already but Nurse Ambassador (henceforth known as NA) recommended being with someone just in case I had a reaction...so Soldier took some time off to be with me. We sat around and sat around and...nothing. I got pretty irritated. I thought maybe it was backed up with the holidays, and checked early in the morning, but nada. So, back to the phone. It turned out there was a late flight and it was stuck in Anchorage sooo long story short, I got it like 4 days late. Uh, thanks Alaska.
By the time it came in there was a bit of concern (mostly from me) that it had frozen in transit. There was supposed to be some sort of card or something that told me if it got out of the necessary temperature range, but they weren't there. Real cool. Honestly there was a point in all of this where I just had to kind of laugh, it was a bit of a comedy of errors.

So, the injection pen got to me, that was the big part. Thankfully Soldier was there...I wasn't at all worried about having a reaction, but I wanted to have him there for moral support. The more time I have to think (worry) about something, the more freaked out I get.
I got NA on the phone and got ready to stab myself. Really it might have been better if I had just done it rather than talking through it with her, but it's required for her job...but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I'll cut to the chase. If you've ever seen an EPI pen, that's pretty much what mine looks like. It's spring loaded and just sends the meds right in there. I underestimated it though; the needle is so small that I really didn't expect to feel it a whole lot. Oh also with my swollen and sore hands it was kind of hard to even push the button. That doesn't really add much to it, just that it took longer to even get the injection in since my hands hurt so much.

I finally hit the button. It hurt. It startled me. I pulled the pen away. The needle came out. The meds started spraying on me. Soldier and I gave each other a deer-in-the-headlights look. I closed the pen back over the injection site so some of it might soak in. (I don't know if it works that way at all, but it seemed like a fair idea at the time). We laughed about it afterward.

I do think I got at least a teensy bit of the medicine, and now I know what to expect. On the bad side, I have a small ugly bruise on my tum. I'm guessing I'll get one every time, so that's fun.

I think I'm almost back to being able to wear my rings. As silly as it is, that's been one of the biggest issues for me. I know you're all interested, so I'll be sure to keep you in the loop if anything changes!

Till then, I hope you all have a happy New Year and that your 2018 is magical!