A nurse came to my house to get me started on the IV steroids. I have decent veins for blood draws, but putting IV's in has always been a little touchy.
The first vein was good, until all of the sudden it wasn't. So the nurse had to remove the catheter, and try again in another vein. Overall, two of my veins blew up, another two collapsed, and another one rolled out of the way. This is because my delicate little veins are big fat jerks. Finally, the nurse just had to put a 25 gauge butterfly needle in, and forget the catheter. The good thing about that is that after the steroids go in, I don't have to add heparin. I just flush the IV with some saline before removing the needle. The bad thing is that I have to remove the needle. Removing IV's is dumb because they have to put so much tape on to keep them in place. And NOW, she has to come back tomorrow and put the IV in again. We'll try to get the catheter in again, because I have to do three days of high dose IV steroids. Otherwise, I'll be pulling out the needle and waiting for the nurse to place the IV again on Sunday. It's such an exciting life that I live.
I can definitely feel a difference. It's slight, but a slight improvement is promising. My nurse did comment that I'm only getting half the usual dose of most patients, so after the course of steroids, I have to wait a few days, and then I might have to another round. She asked if I knew why they had ordered that particular dose, but all I can figure is that since it's my first time having steroids like this, they want to take it easy? I really don't know. Or maybe they're worried about how I'm going to absorb the meds? Basically, I have no answer.
I also have my MRI scheduled for next Wednesday. I'm going to have the kids get off the bus at a friends house, because my appointment is late in the day. I'm worried that my MRI won't show any new or active lesions. I realize this is stupid, because my MRI's always have lots of lesions (or polka dots, as I tell my kids). But this would be the first time I have an MRI to monitor a relapse and assess the damage causing my symptoms. The first relapse was with my initial diagnosis, and that MRI was crazy bad. The next two I had while I was in remission, and they were just to see what had improved. I'm trying to think of how the doctor phrased it... chronic multiple sclerosis related changes.
That being said, I continue to live my life and do stuff. For example, I gave a gal from church a haircut and blow out after I took out my IV. And I cut Danny's hair, because he's been asking for weeks. It doesn't matter how crappy I feel, life goes on, and I can be a part of it, or I can watch it from the sidelines. I prefer to be in on the action.
The good thing about this, is that when I say "I can't do this", my family, especially Troy, steps up to the plate and takes over. He knows that I'm doing the best I can, and I'm trying, but he doesn't ever get annoyed or frustrated when I'm too sick or tired to do something.
When I look at all the tweaks we've made to our home so that I can function, I feel equal parts happy and sad. Happy that we're making this work, and that we're doing so well. Sad because I mourn the loss of the girl I used to be. Oh well, right?
