How to stick yourself and keep smiling

When my neurologist reccomended that I start on a treatment of Avonex for my MS, my first thought was...'sure, sounds great'. When he said how much it cost, my next thought was...'holy sh#t, i hope my insurance covers it otherwise there better be a home made recipe available on line'. Then he mentioned that it was in the form of an injection I'd have to give myself once a week...well lets say I was ready to draw the line in the sand. There was no way I was going to give myself a shot...and once a week at that.



I'm sure many a person has felt the same as me when it comes to giving themselves a shot. It's not something we ever think we'd have to do. Doctors and nurses and other health pros do stuff like that. It's not safe for someone to give themselvs a shot....but then I realized that people with diabetes have to do it, even young kids, so it must be safe. I guess I was just chicken-shit...So that was that. I'd have to suck it up and just do it. This was one thing I could do to help myself in this battle and damn it, I was strong enough to do this.......that's what I said to myself alot on the day leading up to the first shot.



SO, how do you stick yourself and keep smiling you ask? Well I'll fully admit, it's not easy. What totally helps is the crazy support from my family and just admitting it's hard but you're gonna do it anyway. We joke about it whenever we can and I've even offered the kids an opprotunity to learn how to give me the shots as well.....they all declined....

Other things we've come up with are (1)- don't bob up and down before you go for it because (2)- you will usually end up going in at an angle which hurts. (3)- ice down the area for 5-10 minutes. We were taught that the nerves that make you say 'yeow' are in the top most layer of skin and numbing that area can help. (4)- quick in, slowly inject, quick out. (5)- fig newtons make a great after shot reward.

I'm sure we'll come up with more ideas as time goes forward. Maybe some Tom Waits music in the backround is the key.....Hmmm......

Until next week.....

7th Shot

SO I'm still at the early stages of my avonex shots where I still know them by number. Probably will be for a while. I know at some point Tuesday nights will be just another night where I happen to give myself a shot. For now, there is still an emotional lead up to the eventual sticking myself with a sharp object.

Usually throughout the day, there is an underlying tension or anxiety over what I have to do. It's a bit less on the days where my beautiful wife offers to do the job. I think what keeps my nerves in check during the day is the realization that it only takes a minute and then I'm done for the week and that I'm doing something active to treat my disease. So much of the mind f*#k of this disease is that at this time, it will never go away. Me and my family will be living with this for a long long time (this is where we chant...'go research, go research, go research...').

Back to the shots.....
Normally my after shot symptoms are extreme flu for about 18-24 hours. I know this is about to sound like a commercial voice over but here goes....symptoms included chills, fever, aching body and irritability (more than the norm). No real injection site reactions other than a little bruising one week. Each week has found those flu like symptoms decreasing in intensity little by little. This week finds my after shot symptoms declining yet again. It' almost noon on wednesday and all I'm feeling is some soreness in my joints like I dug a bunch of holes the day before. Maybe a few more weeks and I'll be back at work on Wednesdays (sigh).

I'm outa here for now. I'm on a staycation this week so I can hang out with my kids for a bit of summer fun as well as work on the master bathroom floor like I told my wife I'd do for the past year or two.

Next week...'How to stick yourself and keep smiling'....