Turning the Tables
You haven't lived the life of a single mom until you have to have your kids drive YOU to the emergency room! You haven't lived until your emergency contact person for yourself is your kid. I am not a happy camper today, in fact, I'm down right discouraged. Bleh!
I decided I needed to do another Enbrel injection on Friday and try to make this work. Three weeks ago wasn't fun and my leg is now permanently discolored purple from the swelling and tissue destruction that happened. I did the injection in my other leg and within an hour, I had a 3" welt. I took Benedryl, Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer to try to keep the swelling to a minimum. It wouldn't stop.
I called the Enbrel Helpline when it was 6" in diameter and while the nurse was super friendly and had a great phone side manner, she was not at all helpful. She just kept telling me how interesting it was that my leg was swelling up. Still not sure what the point to a 24 hour on call nurse with Enbrel is, I guess if you need pointless adult conversation...?
By Saturday, things had not improved but as long as I could stay off my leg, it seemed to be a bit better. Sunday night, it went crazy! I had gained 1 1/2" in the circumference of my leg, the welt now covered the entire length of my thigh and 3/4 around. It was hot to the touch, I was running a fever and I couldn't hardly bend my leg, the swelling had spread up to the top joint. There was so much swelling, it was cutting off my circulation and my entire leg was numb and prickly with pain. I tried everything I could at home to get things under control but it had a different agenda.
Finally, at 6:30 I asked Shelbie to take me to the hospital. A couple of hours later, some IV meds including steriods and heavy duty doses of Benedryl, I was able to come home. The Benedryl made me wacky!! Holy Cow! I was so groggy and tired but jumpy all night long.
Today, every single joint in my body is swollen and sore and I have taken on about 4 liters of fluid I'm sure. The leg is not any better to look at but the blood seems to be circulating better. Now, I have a week of steroids and Benedryl ahead of me. I had to cancel some cleaning work today because I can hardly move.
So frustrating. I have to see my Rheumatologist today and I have no idea what is left for me to try and the thoughts of living the rest of my life in pain is not getting me excited. I guess for now, all I can think about is trying to do what I can for work and get these immediate problems under control.
Shelbie was so good to stay with me. I felt bad since she had had a friend over for dinner and they were having a great time together. Her friend leaves on a mission this week so I know it's going to be tough for Shelbie to say goodbye. I kept telling her to go back home and would call when I was ready to leave but she wanted to stay with me. I really appreciated her sacrifice but it felt really weird having to rely on her instead of me being the strong and healthy one.
I decided I needed to do another Enbrel injection on Friday and try to make this work. Three weeks ago wasn't fun and my leg is now permanently discolored purple from the swelling and tissue destruction that happened. I did the injection in my other leg and within an hour, I had a 3" welt. I took Benedryl, Ibuprofen and a muscle relaxer to try to keep the swelling to a minimum. It wouldn't stop.
I called the Enbrel Helpline when it was 6" in diameter and while the nurse was super friendly and had a great phone side manner, she was not at all helpful. She just kept telling me how interesting it was that my leg was swelling up. Still not sure what the point to a 24 hour on call nurse with Enbrel is, I guess if you need pointless adult conversation...?
By Saturday, things had not improved but as long as I could stay off my leg, it seemed to be a bit better. Sunday night, it went crazy! I had gained 1 1/2" in the circumference of my leg, the welt now covered the entire length of my thigh and 3/4 around. It was hot to the touch, I was running a fever and I couldn't hardly bend my leg, the swelling had spread up to the top joint. There was so much swelling, it was cutting off my circulation and my entire leg was numb and prickly with pain. I tried everything I could at home to get things under control but it had a different agenda.
Finally, at 6:30 I asked Shelbie to take me to the hospital. A couple of hours later, some IV meds including steriods and heavy duty doses of Benedryl, I was able to come home. The Benedryl made me wacky!! Holy Cow! I was so groggy and tired but jumpy all night long.
Today, every single joint in my body is swollen and sore and I have taken on about 4 liters of fluid I'm sure. The leg is not any better to look at but the blood seems to be circulating better. Now, I have a week of steroids and Benedryl ahead of me. I had to cancel some cleaning work today because I can hardly move.
So frustrating. I have to see my Rheumatologist today and I have no idea what is left for me to try and the thoughts of living the rest of my life in pain is not getting me excited. I guess for now, all I can think about is trying to do what I can for work and get these immediate problems under control.
Shelbie was so good to stay with me. I felt bad since she had had a friend over for dinner and they were having a great time together. Her friend leaves on a mission this week so I know it's going to be tough for Shelbie to say goodbye. I kept telling her to go back home and would call when I was ready to leave but she wanted to stay with me. I really appreciated her sacrifice but it felt really weird having to rely on her instead of me being the strong and healthy one.
So sorry you had such a bad reaction. Shelbie is a very good daughter to have stayed with you. She really loves and cares about you. What can I do to help.!
ReplyDeletedang. Did they even have a reason or thought behind your swelling besides thinking it was interesting? I'm sorry =( let me now if I can do anything to help out!
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