I know it's been nearly two months since I last posted. Life has been crazy, between rescheduling a concert that got snowed out (it was a big one, too...and since when does stuff get snowed out in the desert? Ick!) and everything else, it's a miracle the military hasn't annexed my apartment and office for hazardous terrain training.
Meanwhile....I got my fourth infusion of Actemra yesterday, and it couldn't have come sooner. It's been a rough few weeks as I am in what my doctor calls the "peaks and valleys" stage of treatment. This is a valley. This last infusion marks the first time that my nurses missed my IV on the first stick and had to stick me not two but three times...and then I didn't bleed enough from the IV stick for labs, so a guy from the lab had to come up and stick me a fourth time. The first IV attempt hit a valve and left me with an awesome bruise. The ones on my hand are cool too, but not nearly as impressive as this one, which is becoming more colorful by the hour. I still love my nurses, though. They do a great job.
Anyway, I'm almost over my infusion hangover (which feels exactly like a real hangover, by the way) and recalled some mail I got about a week ago from the drug company.
By "mail" I mean this stuff was delivered to my doorstep via UPS. This is a miracle considering that when I was taking Enbrel it took an act of Congress to get the actual drugs delivered to my doorstep....but drug company propaganda is no problem! When I first saw the huge package I thought, "Wow, that safety brochure they mail out has gotten huge. Should I be worried?"
It turns out the drug company was being helpful and sent this lovely journal:
As you can see, this is supposed to help me chart progress on this new drug. I can't decide yet whether I'll actually use it. I hate paperwork, and I'm pretty aware of how my body is doing, so I probably won't. I think this is probably more helpful for people who were more recently diagnosed. It does, however, include neat little appointment stickers. Those are kind of cool. Everyone likes stickers.
Yet another reflection of what I believe to be targeting of the newly diagnosed was the second item in the package, a brochure:
While I certainly can appreciate this attitude, it really isn't mine. After 22 years with RA pain I'm not on a "journey", and I'm not so much determined as I am resigned to the fact that I must have something that works in order to function and live my life. I have things to do.
Bottom line, my real life perspective on my RA is this:
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