It’s begun. I had my first injection yesterday at 2:15pm. It was freaky. Luckily I’d read about other people’s experiences of the first time they had to inject themselves, and I’d read the instructions that came with the package, so I’d pretty much psyched myself into it by then. It’s just that poking that needle in it feels like the most unnatural thing to do to yourself.
I’m really glad my husband came along. Not only was it reassuring, but it helps to have a second pair of eyes and ears.
My nurse set up the needle and the syringe, instructed me what to do and then handed it to me. I got my flap of skin ready, aimed, and… hesitated. Immediately the nurse started barking at me, "just do it! Hurry up! Right now! Don’t stop!" I’m so glad she did that. It prevented me thinking logically, and I just did as I was told. It wasn’t so bad. I definitely felt the needle, but it was small and thin, not too painful at all. I was just as worried about squeezing the plunger. I thought I’d be able to feel the liquid squirting in, like when the dentist injects anaesthetic into your gums. That’s a nasty feeling. But I didn’t feel that part at all. Then I pulled the needle out. When the medicine started squirting back out of the hole in my skin, I realised that I was squeezing way too hard – probably because I was freaking out! Next time I’m going to let go of the skin before I remove the needle.
So that was it. Easy peasy. Now I just had to wait for the side effects to show up. The nurse said that maybe I wouldn’t have any at all. I shouldn’t have pinned my hopes on that. It was a three-hour car journey from the hospital back to my house. Hubby drove. I felt fine. Just before we arrived home I was starting to feel a bit achy –I thought it might be just from sitting in the car. But then other stuff started happening. When we arrived home, my mother greeted us (I’d left my mother watching over my house. I have a home-based business and customers can turn up at any time, so someone needed to be there). The first thing my mother said when I got out of the car was that I was shivering. It was a beautiful sunny evening and nobody else seemed cold.
The second thing she said was that she’d taken all the eggs out of the hen’s nest and put them in the fridge. That was very bad news. The chicks had just started hatching that morning, and I had asked my mother not to go near the nest.
Now, that news in itself doesn’t really relate to the subject of my blog, but the way I reacted does: Usually when my mother does that kind of thing, I get very tense and feel anger welling up inside me, and I feel like my head’s going to explode. This time all I felt was a serene calmness. I felt like I was floating, detached from the situation. I heard my voice, in a calm tone, tell my mother that I had asked her to leave the nest alone. I don’t even recall what she said back. It just didn’t matter. Hubby and I went inside and took the poor, refrigerated eggs and put them back in the nest. Who knows if they’ll survive.
By 6:30pm I was starting to feel really bad. Every joint ached, even my elbows. Even my toes. I was starting to develop a fierce headache. I knew I needed to eat something before I took my pills, but I struggled to gag down a banana sandwich. At about 7pm I took my first two Ribavirin tablets. I’ll be taking two of those every night and two every morning. I’ll be having my injection of Interferon once a week. That’s a piece of good news. I thought I would be having it three times a week. But it’s the Pegylated Interferon, so I only need to do it once a week. Yay.
I wanted to hold out as long as I could before taking any painkillers. Bad decision. By about 8:00 all I could do was lie on the couch and moan. I hurt so bad I could hardly move. I felt dizzy and exhausted, but I knew I wouldn’t sleep if I went to bed in that state. At that point I took some paracetamol and went upstairs and cried my eyes out. I know crying’s one of the side-effects, but I don’t think it’s meant to start happening so soon in the game! I think I was just sick and scared and I felt kind of guilty that I hadn’t managed it better (by taking painkillers before the pain got too bad).
Anyway, after about 20 minutes I felt the first 500mg of paracetamol kicking in. The pain was greatly relieved. I took another 500mg at 9pm, just to knock the rest of the pain off, and went to bed. It was a fitful night. Every sound jolted me awake. But I did sleep. I woke up about 7:30 this morning with a thumping headache, popped another paracetamol and things were looking rosy. The rest of the day has been great a great relief. I've been feeling pretty well! I still have some aching, a slight headache and a new thing - blocked ears. But basically, I feel pretty OK!
So far so good...
