Last night was a big night for me. After five years of weekly and bi-weekly injections, I finally gave myself my Humira shot!
A little background on why I'm so proud: Like many people, I have always been deathly afraid of needles. When I was 18 and went to the doctor for my pre-marital exam, the doctor ordered a bunch of blood work for me. Instead of walking over to the lab, though, I went home! When I got the news of RA a few months later, I was terrified that regular blood work was going to be the new norm for me. After several months of oral medicine and poor results, my doctor prescribe me Enbrel, an injectible medicine. A few months later, injectible methotrexate was added to the regimen. The methotrexate shots were administered with a relatively small syringe and skinny needle and, with the help and coaching of my diabetic sister-in-law, I learned to give those to myself. In 2006, I switched over from Enbrel to Humira, but the shots were still similar: bigger needle, painful, specific entry angle, blah blah, and I was too scared to do them. One of the nicest things about pregnancy was nine months of no shots! After Jack, I still didn't want to give them to myself. It has always been easier if I just look the other way and let Ty take care of it.
Recently, we have been talking about the things I need to be able to take care of by myself come January 31st. This has been one of those issues. It made me so nervous just thinking about it. My hands were like ice and my stomach was in knots, but Ty sat down with me and coached me through it. And
finally, after roughly 300 injections, I did it myself! And it was no big deal...
