Infusion over for this time

I got to Dr K's office just before 8:30 AM this morning and had my physical. I had pre-medicated with extra steroids the night before and 100 mg Tylenol and 25 mg Benadryl an hour prior to arriving. this is to prevent allergic reactions, since they are pretty common.

This all takes place at my rheumatologist's office, they do infusions for Dr P, my gastorentereologist. I warned the staff I have very bad veins. First of all, over 20 years of being prodded with needles gives you a lot of scar tissue, so the skin in the bends of my arms is OK, but underneath the surface lurks tough scar tissue. I am always somewhat dehydrated due to diarrhea, so my veins are small. And they roll. So, not a great set up for anyone wanting to open up a vein in one of my arms... They managed to blow two veins before success was achieved, and this is not something you want to see or experience. The vein literally blows up like a little balloon under the skin and bursts... Lots of bruising! They even considered sending me to the hospital for the infusion, but thankfully they persisted, since that probably would have opened up a can of worms in regards to insurance coverage.

Then to my dismay did I realize they don't use a regular IV set up. They just put the needle in your arm and that is it! You are not allowed to move your arm at all, not an inch! For 2.5 hours... I was cramping up a lot when I was finally done... They might want to consider investing in some real IV equipment, so the patients can move their arms! this meant I could not work on the laptop as I was hoping. Luckily I had brought a DVD I hadn't watched yet, so I was able to do that with just one arm.

So far no reaction (except being veeery sleepy from the Benadryl; antihistamines tend to knock most people out). There was a woman about my age in the chair next to me, receiving the same medication for the same thing. She was not a very positive person. I asked how long she had been sick, and she replied for very long, going on three years! I am thinking to myself that three is nothing, I am going on my third decade! I didn't say anything, but I tried to talk positive to her, she didn't seem to have a very positive outlook on life. I tried to tell her that being positive is really key to live a better life when you are dealing with a disease like this. She just kind of looked at me with doubting eyes. But seriously, you really have to stay positive!

So now I am waiting for my next infusion in two weeks. Hopefully it will work this time around!

Here I am waiting for them to inject the medicine. As you can tell I am very puffy and horrible looking due to all the steroids. They call it "moon face" since the face gets all round and big. Not a pretty sight!