Caffeine IV Drip

Seriously, do they make one?  I want one!

This week was not as crazy as it could have been for being the first week back from fall intercession, but it was still somewhere on the nutty scale.  This week saw the turning in of grades, preparing freshmen for region auditions, helping IB kids with extended essays, and last night, working concessions with my kids at a football game.  I don't know how much we'll keep, but the stand made almost $3500, so the five and a half hours were worth it.

Next week will be even crazier: Monday, freshman region auditions.  Tuesday, performance for the superintendent.  Wednesday, staff development and full rehearsal.  Thursday, concert.  Friday, crash.

However, there is good news!  If you can't have caffeine in an IV drip, you can have the next best thing: a new RA treatment.  For about the last month I've felt like crud and have woken up every morning in varying states of pain with my joints stuck at various angles.  My doctor determined that my Enbrel probably wasn't working anymore after a good 5 year run and it was time to switch meds.  After satisfying the insurance loophole of trying Humira first ("Heck, I'll give you a box of Humira, you can take a shot today and say you tried it!"), putting in insurance paperwork, etc., I got my first infusion today of Actemra.

Actemra is a fairly new drug, I guess, but my rheumatologist likes it a lot.  It's given once a month by infusion at the hospital and works by blocking some B cell receptors that apparently play a role in immunity and RA.  One of the ladies next to me at the infusion center is on her 4th round and said it is working well for her.

Anyway, after registering with the ER and waiting forever (good crowd watching, though!) I got taken upstairs to the infusion center, weighed (prednisone added only 7 pounds this month, but I swear it feels like 20), and briefed on side effects and when to call the ER, etc.  The infusion nurse then told me that some of their patients have actually started to feel better halfway through the infusion-one man who came in couldn't even close his hand and by the end of an hour and regained full function.  We did the usual did you get your flu shot, have you had a TB test, be careful with germs conversation and then started hunting for veins.  I have really small veins and am a hard stick.  The nurse asked me which arm is better and I just said "good luck."  After sticking me once she went and got a baby needle and used that instead with much better results.  This nurse has a daughter with RA and is very careful with the joints-she started looking for a bigger vein further up my arm, then noticed how swollen my elbow was (I didn't even think of it till she pointed it out!) and went back to my hand.

They started me off with just the saline and then brought the medicine up from the pharmacy-wearing a big blue smock and heavy duty gloves and carrying the IV bag in a big plastic bag that said "caution: chemotherapy drug."  The nurse told me that they have to follow chemo protocol with this one, but that if it splashed on them they probably wouldn't freak out the way they would with the cancer drugs.  

The infusion only took an hour, during which time I was given some blankets and a pillow (the room was cold), some apple juice, and a chocolate rat on a stick because one of the nurses was assembling some Halloween bags for the kids in her family.

My hand is still sore from the IV and I am still in pain, but since I don't currently feel any worse, we'll take that as a good sign for now.  Side effects for all of these drugs can be scary, so I'm hoping I don't get too many.  I go back in two weeks for my next infusion and hope to see some results soon!

Now to go find some diet coke....