Remicade vs Crohn’s…Round 1
So I had my first Remicade infusion yesterday. I was much easier than I thought it would be. The benadryl made my arm hurt, a weird throbbing pain from my thumb up to my elbow. It slowly made its way up to my shoulder, and hung out there until it was pushed through. The Remicade itself was no big deal.
I did feel a little tired afterwards, but nothing more so than usual. Matt took me home (he stayed with me the ENTIRE time) and mum and I went out to lunch and then to teh St. Louis Weaver’s Guild show/sale. After wandering around for a bit, I started to get really tired, my stomach started to hirt a little and I was getting a headache. She took me home and I went to bed for the remainder of the afternoon.
Went to the gym, and probably pushed it a little too hard. Felt a bit woozy and didn’t feel up to doing cardio after lifting. The I went to SLAM today w/ mum & Paul (he’s in town for the weekend), and had to sit down a few times. After we had lunch, I had to come home and lay down for a while. Didn’t go to sleep, but just needed to rest and relax. Feeling better now, but now I know I need to take it easy after the infusions.
More on adventures in Remicade land later.
Sean comes home tomorrow. He and Paul are in town to see Jeff before he goes to Iraq in 2 weeks.
So nervous and edgy today
I start Remicade tomorrow…I am so un-fucking-believeably nervous. I have a lot of other things on my mind right now too, but I can’t discuss them at this time. I have that feeling like there’s a brick in my stomach and I am going to faint. Certainly didn’t make things any easier for myself by eating McDonald’s eggamooby muffin, a pie, and coffee….but hey, I eat when I get nervous. I am not getting anything done @ work today…I was supposed to finish up all the tax credit stuff I have been putting off, but I don’t think I can concentrate that much today.
I am fighting the urge to go out to my car and get the chemo cap I have been working on. I need to frog it down to the first 5.5″ of stitches, before the k2t part. (that’s knit two together for those of you that aren’t hip to the knit) I think I screwed something up along the way. I may just do that….I’ll take my lunch hour and knit in my office. I need to do something other than putz around on myspace.
Well….ciao for now.
First real knitting project
I recently found out that one of my co-worker’s sisters had a bilateral mastectomy. She’s only 21. So, instead of making the baby hat I had planned on doing for my first project , I am making a “chemo cap” for her. I am making it out of “Poof” yarn by Crystal Palace, in Berry Parfait.
It’s a soft, microfiber yarn. It’s kind of hard to work with, as it feels like you’re “knitting with tissues” (as my knitting instructor says). It’s coming together quite quickly. I should be done w/ it by the end of the week/weekend.
I am planning on knitting more chemo type hats and giving them away at the infusion center where I will be getting my Remicade. I’ll post pictures when I finish it.
The Joys of Azathioprine
So I started Azathioprine today (it’s the generic of Imuran). I feel a little funky, but I don’t know if that’s from the meds or from my body adjusting to not having a shit load of antibiotics in it anymore. Time will tell…
If you’d like to read more about this, slightly frightening, drug here’s a few links:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682167.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azathioprine
And if you’d like to learn more about Crohn’s Diease:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crohn%27s_disease
