Eye patches and pimp cane.

Last night was my first time injecting Copaxone on my own. This time in my stomach because I got lots of fat there and that is suppose to make it easier. I had no problems injecting the medicine, but after a few seconds I had the same symptoms I suffered before. Heart palpitations, nausea, feeling faint, and a burning pain at the injection site. I was ready for the pain this time with a cold pack. It didn't help much. The other symptoms were gone after 30 minutes, but I writhed in pain in my bed for 3 hours trying to get some sleep before I had to get up for work at 3am.  I think I got 3 hours of sleep. When I woke my right hand and leg were worse and I still had double vision.
I went to work anyway, ha ha ha ha. That didn't go well. Matt had to drive me to and from work. Thank goodness I start at 4:30am and end at 8am. The lifeguard that opened with me had to do almost everything. I couldn't walk throughout the building, or do anything that required me to carry something. Computers - I could turn on those at least. Greeting people was nauseating because they entered the building on my left. So I really struggled with my double vision. I used Matt's cane to get around when I needed too, but pretty much I just sat there and fielded questions on why I had a cane. The bright spot at work was my wonderful friend, Kathy, who prayed over me for healing.

After Matt brought me home from work, I called Copaxone and talked to them about my experience with the drug. The nurse they had on staff said my symptoms were concerning and I should call my neurologist. Duh, I was planing to. Called my neurologist but only his nurse, Lisa, was available. Shocker. Anyway, when I explained my experience with the Copaxone she was concerned my MS relapse was trigged by the drug. She consulted with my neurologist and they agreed I should stop taking the medicine and see if my symptoms subside.
I think I was better off managing my MS with diet. This drug is suppose to slow the progression of MS. Yeah, I don't think that's working out too well for me.
Lisa, said driving and working were out of the question and sent my employer some papers. The medical leave is left open ended because we don't know how long these symptoms are going to last. I'm also getting a handicap parking permit, for obvious reasons.  Link to double vision eye movement video

In the mean time, Lisa suggested I wear an eye patch when I want a break from the double vision. I don't have one so I used my face mask.

Like a boss!

Then a beautiful friend of mine, Sherri Moore, couldn't just let we walk around with what Matt calls a face bra. She made me an eye patch that fits over my glasses. 

Visit: Sherri's Custom Shoppe and browse her creative hand-crafted collection.

I have the most amazing generous friends! Love. Love. Love!

Then, my new cane arrived this afternoon - Christmas!

Yes, I geeked out over a cane because it can stand on it's own. If you've dealt with canes you know how annoying it is when they fall down. I think it needs to get pimped out somehow. I'll have some time on my hands so we'll see what happens when I get bored.

Worst MS relapse in a while.

I'm experiencing the worst MS symptoms I have ever experienced since Thanksgiving 2011. My entire right side of my body, head to toe, is weak and mostly numb. It started in my right hand on Saturday and has progressively gotten worse. By Sunday night it had spread through my entire right side. Monday morning I woke to the same numbness and double vision problems. I have to constantly strain to refocus my eyes to see normal.
Matt and I have been going over what could have triggered this severe relapse. Food wise, there hasn't been any changes to my diet. So I don't think it is that. We have been spring cleaning which has kept us all busy and exhausted at the end of almost everyday this Memorial weekend. Could be that I did too much. Lastly, I took my first shot of Copaxone Friday afternoon. I can't imagine that would cause symptoms, but I did react poorly to it and maybe my body/brain is not done freaking out. All I know is that I'm very uncomfortable and feel a bit useless. Forgive any spelling and grammar errors, cause you know, double vision and a weak hand typed this.
At least the vertigo has given me a break for now.

New Meds

I decided to go on MS medication, Copaxone. I have to inject myself 3 times a week. Could be worse; it could be a daily injection. The medicine cost $1318.57 for a 28 day supply. There is no way I can afford this so my neurologist got me in touch with Shared Solutions that is basically the financial assistance branch of the Copaxone drug company. they cover the cost of the medication up to two thousand dollars. So my Copaxone is basically free every month. They ship it to me in a bulky styrofoam cooler. I have to keep the medication in the fridge. It actually can be left out of the refrigerator for up to 30 days, but the Copaxone rep/nurse said to keep a week supply (3 syringes) out at a time.

For now I keep my injection supplies it in a handy dandy pouch that came with the autoinjector. 

I also got a lot of information pamphlets and "helpful" materials.

The preparation mat is funny to me. They really do make sure you don't screw it up.

Then there is the tracking calendar/planner.

So here is what I have to do 3 times a week. I will be injecting on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. There are areas of the body that are best to inject. You don't want to over do it in one area so they recommend a rotating schedule. I'm probably going to use the app version of the tracking schedule. The app has an alarm that I will definitely need to help me remember. 

Shared Solutions sent a nurse to teach me how to inject myself. Jason was a great guy and was very patient with me and all the test runs I wanted to do before injecting myself for the first time with the real thing. I decided to inject in the triceps of left arm. The needle entering the skin was no big deal; hardly felt it. The medicine is a different story. A few minutes after the injection it felt like I got stung by a bee. The area felt like it was on fire and a welt the size of a silver dollar formed. I freaked out, had a panic attach, and felt very faint. Jason took me to my couch to lie down. He said it's possible that I didn't push the needle in far enough. Turns out fat is my friend. You want to inject the medicine in the fat. Not the muscle or dermis. Those areas can be more painful. 

This the sweet spot you want to hit.

I've heard from other people using this medicine that they always experience a burning sensation and develop a welt. Because of this, many patients choose to do their injections at night so they didn't have to deal with the pain all day. I guess it goes away by morning. I will soon find out because that is the route I am choosing. My injection this afternoon, that I did around 3:30pm, is still tender to the touch. The welt is gone at least and the skin doesn't feel like it's on fire anymore. Some recommend an ice pack immediately after the injection to help reduce these side effects. Side note, I miss my whip worms! They never caused me pain.

Gluten reaction

I took a chance the other day and ate at GR's Sandwich Shoppe. GR's make amazing panini's and I miss them. They told me they had gluten free panini's so I gave it a try. That night I had numbness in my right hand and tingling on the left-side of my face. These symptoms have slowly gone away since going back to my no-grain diet. My face taking the longest even though of the 2 symptoms it was the least severe. I believe the sudden symptoms were a result of the sandwich since there have been no other changes in my diet or life. I guess I'm going back to no grains.


Anyway, in other news I'm going to be taking Copaxone for my MS. They are sending a nurse named Jason sometime in the next week or two to show me how to administer the meds. Also, the tinnitus in my left ear has gotten worse. It has been acting up a lot lately so I will be going to the ENT to have that check out.

Sam's cyst

The cyst on top of her head is about the size of half a walnut shell. The one at the left-side base of her skull is about a pea size. They both seem very tender and frequently caused headaches.
Wednesday, April 13 2016, I took Sam in for a surgical consult with Dr. McDade. Upon evaluating the cyst he decided to remove the large one on top of her head right away. The other lump was actually a limp node and would eventually shrink. Sam said the numbing process was actually pretty painful but once she was numbed up they went to work while I tried to distract Sam by talking with her. Seeing them take out the cyst was stomach churning. It was about the size of the tip of my pinkie. They removed the balding part of her scalp completely and then sewed the scalp back together. She got a total of 4 stitches.

Sam spent the rest of the day in bed since they didn't give her any pain medicine and Ibuprofen wasn't really helping much. The next day she got the respiratory flu and was sick the rest of the week.

April 20th Sam went back in to get the stitches removed. She had recovered from the flu by that point and was anxious to get the stitches out because they were starting to itch.

The process went fairly fast and easy.

 Sam no longer has pain and her hair is filling in nicely. The swollen limp nods have since gone away as well.
I'm am thankful to my family for their prayers as Sam went through this. We pray she won't have to deal with this again any time soon.