Today the Big Guy has been in bed for four weeks. He has Multiple Sclerosis. I can't believe I am writing this. My husband has MS. Today it has been four weeks and 5 days since his symptoms began. And today I earned my IV badge. (I am envisioning myself as some sort of 40 something girl scout with imaginary badges.) We just finished day five of Solu-Medrol at home. We did the last dose and then I pulled the IV out (it's a little plastic thing!), slapped that gauze pad down, taped it up and marveled at the amount of arm hair stuck on the IV tape I had removed. I watched a video on YouTube first. So, of course I felt completely confident!
The nurse came and got us started on Wednesday with an IV and a few quick instructions about alcohol wipes and drip rates and saline flushes and Heparin chasers. The she left us, steroids drip-drip-dripping down the tube and hope in our hearts. No problem. Each day I had to get psyched up to do the IV thing. My hands shook. I had jelly legs. Not because I am a squeamish person but because it feels so bloody wrong for me to be in this role. Who am I to be adjusting a drip rate? Why is anyone trusting me with flushing a line? What if something terrible happens? (Oh wait something terrible did happen, demyelination happened.)What if I do something wrong? Now this five day experience is over. Who knows how many IVs lie in Big Guy's future. In our future. BG's diagnosis was less than a week ago. Rebif is on the way, in an Omaha Steaks type container I guess. Please Solu-Medrol, do good work and help my BG get out of bed.
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