What a Relief

It's done! I've now got my double-injection night under my belt (ha! literally and figuratively since I did the deed in my stomach) – a dose of Methotrexate and my first-ever dose of Enbrel, all done on my very own.

Make that with the help of my friend Tracey, who not only managed to  be present but actually watched and didn't pass out (see comments from my previous post for full disclosure on that front).

I'd read the SureClick instructions about 15 million times, watched a handy video on the U.S. site with Tracey while waiting for the medication to come to room temperature (damn, had done the Methrotrexate injection then realized I hadn't yet taken the Enbrel out of the fridge!) and iced my abdomen just in case, since I'd read that Enbrel could sting going in. I was prepared on all fronts. The medication comes with a handy instruction card in the box, too, so there I sat on my comfy, puffy couch, light trained on my abodomen, Tracey with card in hand, me with SureClick injector, iPhone with Enliven support service number nearby should something go awry.

I pulled out the white cap as indicated (no twisting!!), pulled my skin taut, pressed the SureClick down (at 90°!), pressed the purple button and felt a slight sting (it must be said – very, very slight!). All good on the Enbrel front! Both Tracey and I started counting, 1, 2, 3... then at 6 verging on 7, a loud click.....What?????? We were supposed to count to 15 seconds!

I sat there frozen. I looked at the window on the injector as Tracey asked, "Is it purple?" (The window's supposed to turn purple when the injection's complete.) I said, "I think just halfway."

So we called Enliven (make that, I talked Tracey through how to use an iPhone to call Enliven), and waited, and waited (OK, maybe a total of two to three minutes in all, if that) to talk to a nurse, me all the while holding the SureClick pressed firmly against my stomach, saying, "I think maybe I moved it a bit?"

When I got on the line with someone (love the iPhone speaker capabilities, since both my hands were fully occupied!), the nurse asked a couple of questions and got me to remove the SureClick from my skin. Then she asked, "Is the needle sticking out?'

"Um, no," I said.

"Did the medication spray out?" she queried.

"No, no medication," I answered.

I swear there was laughter in her voice (I'm sure just my imagination!), as she told me to look once again at the Sureclick window and wave my hand behind it, and if I couldn't see any light coming through it, then the injection had indeed completed.

I obviously need less "mood lighting" in my apartment and more "task lighting." In fact, maybe something more "clinical"?

Not to mention a stopwatch...

Kick-Ass Drugs & Impatience

I just drove home with over $1,700 worth of drugs in my car – it's a good thing the cops didn't pull me over.

Just kidding!

The drugs? My first four SureClick injections of Enbrel. That's it: four weeks' supply. I could have gotten more, but charging that much was enough, and if the power goes out (they have to be refrigerated), I don't want to be responsible for having more on hand.

Along with the drugs, I got three Toblerone bars to feed my emotional need for comfort at the moment. I had a day filled with some crap moments. My three little toes (hey! one Toblerone bar for each!) on my left foot were hurting this morning, then kicked up a fuss again this afternoon to such an extent that I had to pull off my boot at work and ice them. (And what is it with those little toes – now the right foot is hurting. It's not like I dance en pointe or anything.)

Then, because of the timing of everything, I'm not sure Enbrel's Enliven support services will be able to get a nurse here tomorrow night to oversee my first injection. I'm taking my Methotrexate tomorrow, and I want to do both injections on the same night, so whether someone's here or not, I'm going for it. The other injection was a breeze, so how hard can the SureClick be? After all, it's not like you get to test an EpiPen before you use it.

I started reading forums to see if anyone else had done an injection for the first time on their own and all I read was how horribly painful it was, not how hard it was. I started freaking out, until I found this site that put things in perspective.

So, am I totally naive? Can I do this on my own? I'm pretty confident, and really had absolutely no problem at all with the Methrotrexate injection.

Thoughts?