#17!

whoa!  time waits on NOONE!

I went for my 17th infusion on Friday – who woulda thunk it; I can’t believe it’s been that long.  It was a great one too – i got stuck only once, the blood GUSHED out of my vein (unlike the usual “molasses going UPhill”) and the medication took only 20 mins as opposed to an hour to flow into my body – go figure; i chalked it up as “just 1 of dem tings“.  I stayed a little longer than normal to be observed afterward because 20 mins was so out of the ordinary.

Anyhoo, so i normally see a doctor or a nurse practioner before going in for the infusion and 1 of the questions they always ask is how things have been in the past month and if i’ve noticed any new neurological symptoms (I CANNOT spell that word on the 1st try – EVER). so i told Beverly (the nurse practitioner) about my off and on bladder issues.  She asked me if it was new to me and i told her that it has happened before, but i never thought that it was MS related.  She confirmed for sure that it was and told me that if i was interested, there were drugs that could be prescribed to help.  Before i could say anything, she went on to tell me that the drugs prescribed sometimes can make it harder to pee for some patients.

now, i didn’t want the drugs in the 1st place but after she told me that, there was no way i was going to say yes.  What the?!?!?! can anyone tell me why it is that the drugs prescribed that will help one to pee all the way and completely empty the bladder will actually make it harder to pee at all?????  There is something wrong with that statement – it makes no kinda sense – AT ALL; not in any language!!!!  Who the hell are these researchers, drug manufacturers, scientists…boy would i like to have word with them!

Anyway, I asked beverly if my going along without doing anything is a problem and she said no – thank God.  As with everything MS related, I will keep an eye on it and if it starts getting worse or becoming a problem, i will deal with it then…no need getting my panties all in a bunch for nothing at this point.

A Bit of a Loner

Having Multiple Sclerosis has taught me that i can lime with myself.  When we go to fetes and i have to sit in a chair, i don’t expect everyone to lime around me and sometimes, they don’t.  i’ve always enjoyed my “Stacey” time, but now more than ever i have it.

I am sure that i’ve always been aware of that, but it really  hit me in Miami carnival that i’ve become (by force) a bit of a loner.  I was on that truck for the ENTIRE day by myself, limin with strangers who may have jumped on and off – let’s face it, it’s not the easiest thing in the world to get on and off those things, so i certainly didn’t expect anyone to do it jes to come and lime with me.

In other news…i was only stuck ONCE yesterday altho my blood, once again, was as slow as molasses going into the vials but at least they got the amount they needed this time around.  I drank much more water than i normally would, on the day of, this time so maybe that made a difference to the accessibility of the vein?  I will put the port on a back burner for now and see how things go the next few times.

Infusion Time “Fun”

Anyone want to take a wild guess as to how many times i was stuck last Friday?

anyhoo…so i went on Friday for my 6th (time flies when u’re having fun) infusion.   The head nurse (andrea) walks over and starts trying to get my vein to corporate (applying heat, tapping it, flicking it).  It looks like it’s going to be a good day but then she goes in and… has no luck….the vein is just not on this infusion business and has better things to do i s’pose.  She calls over someone else…she nails it!  woohoo!!  we are on a roll here.  This time because it’s my 6th one, they need 3 vials of blood for whatever blood work they have to do.  The chick says that she’ll wait to get blood after i’ve gotten the medication. (skip ahead 2 hrs)

Andrea walks over and says, “lets get some blood and send u on ur way.”  She takes the syringe and whatever other apparatus they use and inserts it into the IV, pulls back on the plunger and – NOTHING!!  She thinks that the vein that we’re in is kinda tiny, so she’ll have to go in somewhere else. (skip ahead 45 mins)

By this time, both my wrists and forearms are sore and 2 other nurses have seen me.  Remember i said that they needed 3 vials of blood?  they got 3/4 vial!!!!  My blood just didn’t feel like flowing.  At the end of it all, Andrea said that they will just take it and do whatever testing they could with what they had.  I was so happy to hear her say that because i really wasn’t in the mood to try yet another time.

so…at the end of it all, how many times did i actually get stuck?  7!!  twice for the medication and 5x for the 3/4 vial of blood – sooooo NOT what I signed up for!

Infusion Time "Fun"

Anyone want to take a wild guess as to how many times i was stuck last Friday?

anyhoo…so i went on Friday for my 6th (time flies when u’re having fun) infusion.   The head nurse (andrea) walks over and starts trying to get my vein to corporate (applying heat, tapping it, flicking it).  It looks like it’s going to be a good day but then she goes in and… has no luck….the vein is just not on this infusion business and has better things to do i s’pose.  She calls over someone else…she nails it!  woohoo!!  we are on a roll here.  This time because it’s my 6th one, they need 3 vials of blood for whatever blood work they have to do.  The chick says that she’ll wait to get blood after i’ve gotten the medication. (skip ahead 2 hrs)

Andrea walks over and says, “lets get some blood and send u on ur way.”  She takes the syringe and whatever other apparatus they use and inserts it into the IV, pulls back on the plunger and – NOTHING!!  She thinks that the vein that we’re in is kinda tiny, so she’ll have to go in somewhere else. (skip ahead 45 mins)

By this time, both my wrists and forearms are sore and 2 other nurses have seen me.  Remember i said that they needed 3 vials of blood?  they got 3/4 vial!!!!  My blood just didn’t feel like flowing.  At the end of it all, Andrea said that they will just take it and do whatever testing they could with what they had.  I was so happy to hear her say that because i really wasn’t in the mood to try yet another time.

so…at the end of it all, how many times did i actually get stuck?  7!!  twice for the medication and 5x for the 3/4 vial of blood – sooooo NOT what I signed up for!

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