Everything You Have to Go through Just to Get through The Day!

So as I sit at the infusion center at the hospital, in the basement besides, next to chemo patients and others like me. I'm generally the youngest person in here even though being 35 doesn't always feel so you. But people always say, "you're so young to have arthritis." This can be followed by an endearing "honey" or "dear" or I've even heard "darling". Well, I live in the South first of all, and secondly, a lot of people are a lot older than me that say this, and those seem to be the words that come off their tongues. Also, I find that people assume that I'm younger than I am chronologically. And we all know that sometimes that's a compliment, and other times it can be upsetting. Many times it depends on our mood at the time that people are making these comments.

So back to the infusion center...Every four weeks I prepare the day before by taking my prednisone, a pretty hefty dose to boot--20 mg three times that day. I also take 2 Zyrtec the night before I go for my infusion. I make sure the car has a full tank of gas, so my husband can drive me and then drive back home and then take the car to work and have the car for the day that day. I also make sure to get to the ATM to get cab fare because I won't be driving myself home afterward. We leave our home around 7:15 or 7:20 a.m. and head for the hospital. I make sure that my arms are warm and that I'm well hydrated because I'm a hard stick. I have been known around there to have been stuck up to EIGHT TIMES! Don't let this deter you from going on biologics if you have some type of auto-immune or inflammatory condition that requires it. It is worth it even after that. I have been on this particular biologic for a little over two years now, and am feeling much better on it, but after about 6 months on it, I had a reaction in the infusion center that was made up of hives, tightness in the chest, coughing, and stomach pains. They make sure now, and basically it is in my hands to do the home pre-treatment, to pre-treat with every infusion. Not only do I take my meds at home for pre-treatment, but when I arrive, they order my I.V. meds from the pharmacy, and 15 minutes before starting, push intraveniously 25 milligrams of Benadryl and give me 500 milligrams of Tylenol orally as well. On the day of my reaction, they stopped the infusion for 20 minutes and gave me another 25 milligrams of Benadryl by I.V. push, waited for the symptoms to subside, and decreased the speed of the infusion of my biologic, which I haven't yet mentioned as Remicade. So now, I must only get my Remicade infused over 3 hours, even though the FDA has approved the infusion for over 1 hour. It is just too risky to increase the speed.

So when I am finished with the I.V., and the nurse removes the I.V. and tubing, I am free to go. I walk to the main hospital through 2 other buildings and call the cab. He (I'm not being sexist; I've just never had a woman pick me up yet)usually picks me up within 10 to 30 minutes as I get more and more tired and groggy from all the drugs. I climb slowly into the cab and set out to my home. I pay the driver, go in, take the dogs out, and collapse on the couch for several hours. When I wake up, I generally take more Benadryl because I feel a bit itchy. I do some things around the house, and pass out on the couch again.

It seems like so much to go through doesn't it?