Injection Time.

A couple of weeks ago, we went for injection lessons with Lisa, our rheumy nurse. She is very lovely.

Hang on, I just going to put my lamp on. I found it when I tidied my desk the other day...forgot I had it actually..that’s better, I can see now..

So, there was a small group of us all having lessons and we sat in a semi circle. There was a young lady, full of make up looking very glam with high heels and there was a husband and wife couple, about 10/15 years older than us.

I’m not sure what type of arthritis the lady had, but the chap with the wife had rheumatoid arthritis...I know that cos the wife went on and on and on.....and on and on, about all his ailments and about how he is the most unwell person on the planet and how the doctors wont listen and he is on too many heart tablets and she is sure the methotrexate is giving him stomach troubles and the heart specialist thinks he should have one type of treatment and the other specialist thinks he should have something slightly different and how she has to look after him cos he is useless yadda yadda..Both me and Ady felt really sorry for the poor bloke, who just sat there quietly. I wasn’t surprised people didn’t listen to her if that was the way she carried on!

She was having nothing to do with the injections and thought the whole thing a waste of time...every thing poor Lisa said, she interrupted and questioned and then commented under her breath about how silly the whole thing was....and there was me, thinking I could be a gobby irritating hag...I have realised how flipping lovely I am now :p

So, there we were all sitting in our semi circle and Lisa started her lesson. She had her silver trolley with all the bits on it and told us how to store the methotrexate  properly and how toxic it is while handing out a big yellow sharps tub with “DANGEROUS, DESTROY BY INCINERATION”. “Infectious substances” written all over it...I thought fecking hell, this is some serious shit!

She explained that Methotrexate is a cytotoxic drug, meaning that is changes cells or something...it’s quite serious I think cos she looked serious when she was saying about it.

She then gave us all our prescriptions of methotrexate in needles..well it was in the syringe bit and you have to attach the needle yourself.

You get six weeks supply and two weeks before you run out, you have to ring a particular number to order some more. They check your blood results and then if all is OK, they order you another prescription which you have to go to the hospital to pick up. Not quite like picking it up from the your local chemist, but hey ho. The wife of the poor man went mental that she would have to come to the hospital to get it. That was another tick in her book about why the whole thing was a faff!

Ady and I had agreed that I would do the injection and take charge of the ordering and collection cos he would find the whole thing way too confusing and would have trouble with the needles and attaching them and a whole host of other stuff.

Lisa started showing us how to prepare the equipment  and talked about cleanliness. After washing her hands, she started cleaning the trolley top..thoroughly, to make a point I think.

Ady will be having his injection on Wednesdays and he immediately said “Yes, you had better do the injections woman cos what with my OCD, I will have to start the cleaning regime on Monday” I miled sweetly at him thinking “cleaning? Christ,I am going to just stick the needle in and be done with it”

Once Lisa had gone though the whole procedure and connecting the needle onto the syringe and all that, it was time to do the injection. Well, I must have looked far too happy to do it when I leapt up from my chair, dragging Ady along with me, cos they all chuckled and commented on it. Oops!

Sticking a needle in someone is far easier than I thought. I expected there to be a bit of skin resistance, but there wasn’t. It just went straight in..easy as that!

So what I have to do, is clean my surface and wash my hands..no, I have to wash my hands and then clean the surface...that’s right. Then get the needle,the methotrexate, my gloves and a bit of cotton wool and put it on my cleaned surface.

Check the date of the methotrexate so it hasn’t run out and make sure it is clear and yellow with no bits in it. Get the needle and take the tip off the syringe bit and join the needle onto the syringe. Then I pinch a bit of fat (Ady’s stomach has plenty) and stick the needle in. Let go of the pinched bit and then squidge the methotrexate in and count to six, slowly. Take the needle out and give Ady the cotton wool to put where I stabbed him.

You have to count to six and squidge the stuff in slowly because it is quite oily and needs time to sink into the tissue. If you are too quick, it all comes spurting back out!

Once I have done that, I have to put the needle and my gloves into the “DANGER” tub and the rest goes in the bin...I think that was what she said....anyway, not to worry..it will all be OK!

So the next Wednesday, it was time for me to do the injection at home. Lisa suggested that it be done in the evening so he can sleep through the worst of the side effects.

So, I got all my stuff ready and my gloves on and came into Ady with my tray. Charlotte was there so I got her to take some pictures, like you do. The wall lights were on in the sitting room and they are a bit dim, only 20 watt or something, so I turned the main light on but it didn’t work.

I thought “Oh FFS, I am not changing the bulb now, I have got my gloves on and I am all clean. I can see what I am doing alright, no worries”

I have to say, I did the injection perfectly..I didn’t feel a thing!

Charlotte took some pictures and off she went upstairs. She called down to say the lights upstairs weren’t working. I thought “Blimey, we don’t have enough bulbs for upstairs too”

I went into the kitchen to find all the sockets weren’t working either!

Ady and I looked at the fuse board thingy and found that one of the big switches had flipped off and wouldn’t go back on. Ady, realising that we had no freezer, fridge, kettle or lights went into a melt down and wanted to know exactly WHO is an electrician and that we must ring our builder NOW!!

I told him that we cant go ringing people in the evening like that and that it isn’t a problem, we can all have a torch. The freezer will last until the next day and we can boil a saucepan for a hot drink.

Poor Ady was going quite pale...I wasn’t sure if it was the side effects of the injection or the panic of the buggered electrics.

I did remember that when we had the bathroom done, Dangerous Dave  the electrician gave me his mobile number and said to call him any time. So I did, and he didn’t answer.

Ady was in more of a panic by this time and was getting all the extension leads to connect to the working sockets in the dining room to run upstairs. Dear God !!

I couldn’t ring our builder cos I knew he was in bed with man flu. Then, thank the Lord, Dangerous Dave rang back and went through exactly what to do. So I switched all the fuse things off and then turned them all on one by one. Hey presto they all worked!!

Dangerous Dave told me that I had used too many things all at once. I thought well, I did have the dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer, television in the kitchen, cooker, slow cooker and microwave going pretty much all day..plus the hoover...I was trying to be the new organised me for 2013...perhaps that wasn’t such a good idea after all.

We are Emma, Ady, Charlotte and Stephanie and we live at

<0.1 PSA Lane,

ZeroClub

HaveYouWashedYourHands?

JustLetMeStickTheNeedleIn

WhereHaveAllTheLightsGone!