where is the wind?

Today is a post injection day (PID), and a PID without Tylenol.

I don't know if I ever mentioned that I refer to my PID discomfort on a mild-moderate-severe scale. When I woke up this morning, at 8:30, I confidently used the word mild. I got out my breakfast (mmm, mini-wheats), as well as an Advil, sat down at the table and talked with Jason while I ate.

After breakfast, I crawled back into bed. I didn't need to go back to bed (meaning that I wasn't too uncomfortable or tired), it just felt good at that moment. Well, it's now 1:50, and I just got out of bed.

Where is the wind for my sails?

Emily

opportunities

I'm sure that what I am about to type holds true for many events, for lots of people. But the key is to recognize it...and then to use it.

I was just working in the kitchen (unloading the dishwasher) and trying to mentally and emotionally digest something that I had just stumbled upon. With two clicks of my computer mouse, I revealed a job posting...not just any job, but the job that I once coveted. Now what?! I realized not just three weeks ago, that I'm not able to work!

And then my thoughts shifted to opportunities. Having a chronic disease, which for me is Multiple Sclerosis, presents me with lots of new opportunities. It's kind of like an excuse, or even a new reason to do or try something different.

I could meet new people or maybe sample new foods as part of an MS friendly diet. I could share my experiences to help someone who is newly struggling with a diagnosis like mine, or even educate someone who just wants to know more. I could investigate new ideologies, emotions, and responses.

Oh my.

Why am I having this "opportunity awakening" within minutes of a "career opportunity discovery". Is it to remind me, and re-focus me on "there are things to do with your life that are just as fantastic as a forty hour a week paying job"? Or is it to tell me that "new opportunities can be found in this new job if you promise to use all of your new-found personal skills"?

AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

Emily

injections

I thought that it was time to share an update on my injections.

I would say, that for the most part, everything is going well. The injection itself remains painless for the most part (there is a bit of a sting) and we haven't forgotten any. As for the post reaction, it to is going well if I think about what it could be.

I do wake up early (4 or 5 am) with achiness all over, but tylenol helps a lot. I find that I am particularly tired and slower on the mornings following an injection...and sometimes it can last for the entire day. I also have some strange bruise looking blotches in a couple of my injection sites. They are skin discolourations ... no accompanying lump or tenderness.

As for what I can't see or feel, my liver enzymes remain elevated (and I assume are elevating). Even though I am following my blood test schedule, as it was arranged before I started the Rebif, the clinic keeps sending me more requisitions! So sometimes I make an unscheduled trip, and sometimes I don't. I have left a message for the nurse to call me so that we can hopefully arrange a new routine.

Speaking of blood tests, today is an unscheduled day...and I got a requisition in the mail yesterday...so today, I will go.

Now.

Emily