Nothing like spending a Saturday evening in the hospital is there? That’s where I was two weeks ago, after a painful afternoon of sickness, I succumbed to my body and was taken to our local A&E department. I got assessed, had my blood taken, lots of poking and prodding and then proceeded to wait for my test results. They came in, gradually over the next couple of hours; move from…
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Professional ‘help’; here we go again
… I sat there, in the unused doctors room, filling in paperwork with a counsellor. I pause before all the sentences, wondering where my stupid emotions fall on the scale of 0 to 5. I think about how bad I feel about who I am, how I behave and wonder if I will ever stop thinking and feeling so utterly negatively about myself. I think about how most of these thoughts have…
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Infliximab #4
So, its been eight weeks since the last hospital visit for the magic mouse juice. This time, I was due to have a two-hour infusion and only one hour of observation. I had gone the eight weeks as was set out by my GI, IBD nurse and the hospital’s Gastro MGT team. Eight weeks are the standard set of time between infusions. As I had gone up and up in…
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Nerves and Anxiety
… I had to decide whether to go or not. I had been out of action and without a social life all through my hospital stays and home recovery periods, I wanted to get out there. But I was afraid. Afraid of being unwell whilst away from home, afraid of the staring people would do when I needed to visit the bathrooms multiple times, the awkward way I would sit if I…
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2013 – Year in Review
This blog turned one year old on the final day of 2013. Those sort of moments tend to allow one to reflected on the past twelve months. When I consider how long and short ago January 2013 was, so much has happened! Here are my highlights: Finally came off the dreaded Humira injections. Created and set up Crohn’s and Colitis UK Staffordshire South group with fellow local IBDers. Celebrated my…
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Overdue: Infliximab #3
Infusion #3 was by far the best of the three. Regardless of the cold and the coughing, I went off to the hospital, arrived and met my IBD nurse. Knew that the team had talked about my status and would have decided by the time I got into the infusion room if I was receiving it. Knew if I would have to wait out the rest of the Christmas week…
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Rough / Cough
This has been a rough one for me, more so than before. I can’t quite remember feeling this awful before, without the bowels going crazy and my body flaring. This, in all sense and purpose, is a cold. But given my immunosuppressed body, it has hit extremely hard; with each day providing me with a new and strong symptom, so much that I finished work on Friday afternoon – after…
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Half way through or half way there?
So, this week I’m half way through my four weeks of this second infusion. This also means, I’m more than half way to my next infusion too. In fact, its 9 days away and honestly. I’m excited. The difference between now and before Inflixmab is huge. And add to this how different I feel between first and second infusion, and now, awaiting the third, it’s quite amazing how this is…
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Infliximab #2
Two weeks came around fast. I could hardly believe it was my bloods check up last Friday, let alone how quickly the weekend came and gone, then it was Tuesday. Time for an all day stint at the hospital, sitting around waiting for time to pass. This time, everything was delayed. I was on a later appointment schedule, so that I could make my already scheduled GI clinic appointment that…