Cold Front Friday

So… it was 91 degrees Fahrenheit yesterday. That’s about 33 Celsius if anyone  reads this who lives in a place where that is more common (as in ANYWHERE but in the US… ).

About 9 last night a cold front went through.  Windy and cooler… Footy Jammies were wonderful with windows thrown open.  It’s 57 right now (13 c) and still dropping.  Wind is still howling… and rattling the fences and scaring the crap out of the stupid dog.  She is half barking randomly as something blows past the door (leaf… fuzz… fairy or sprite).  Peanut is not the brightest  bulb in the string. But I love the fuzz head anyway.

This morning, I slept obscenely late (6) and took a hot bath to warm up my (thank you Raynauds for the gift that keeps on giving) fingers and toes.  I listened to the last of Betrayal In Death (JD Robb) while I tried to get warm.  Now… wool socks, agloves and a hoody, I feel like queen of the woose people, but I’m up and functional.  So it’s all good!! And my brain fog doesn’t seem to bad this morning so that is even better.

Today I am waiting to buy an ebook for my kindle app… “Deep Sounding” by Brandon Carbaugh (son of an epilepsy mom friend of mine) which is supposed to go on sale today… fifty cents of each book’s sale goes to the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation.  The Celsea Hutchison Foundation is a non-profit charity that does an awesome job of spreading epilepsy awareness and helping affected families obtain crucial resources (like seizure response dogs and emfit monitors).  It’s supposed to hit Amazon today… I’m looking forward to buying my copy.

I’m off today (yet another week of pager duty comes crashing to an end) so I get to enjoy the weather and run errands like doctor appointments and the like.   We bought soccer cleats and socks last night for squirrel girl (who starts not only coaching 3 and 4 year olds through the middle of November but just got picked up on a team for COED local for fun league team called  the Austin Powers).  I’m hoping the rain holds off somewhat so we can go picture taking, somewhere, too.    By the looks of it, it might not be much of an option, though.  I’m not sure about her, but I’m not sure I’m up for cold rain picture taking…

I’be been reading posts from people lately who have been asking about MTX and Humera and Enbrel.  I can’t speak to what all side effects other people might have.  I can speak to the fact that I would much rather take the MTX as a tummy injection than the handful of pills because bypassing my stomach means I don’t have as much exhaustion and I don’t get horribly dizzy and I don’t feel like I’m going to barf on EVERYTHING.  My hair hasn’t started to grow back yet, so I figure that (it’s thinned out considerably, not patchy, just thinned way out) I’m going to kind of be stuck with that side effect, but given the fact that I was feeling (until the last week or so) almost back to semi normal again, I can deal with pulling my hair up into a bobby pin… ONE bobby pin.

Usually people can’t get past the “shot in the tummy” part of the whole deal.  I don’t actually give them to myself.  I have help (thank goodness… I still can’t get past the place in my head of doing it myself).  I rarely feel the MTX shots at all.  Usually when I do feel it, it is because I’m laughing and my tummy is moving when the shot goes in.  Humera and Enbrel aren’t quite as easy.  The shot hurts a little.  About as much as a flu shot, but in the tummy not the arm.  If I don’t take the meds out of the fridge and leave them warm up sufficiently (I’m only on Humera now, but was on Enbrel for a year) the meds burn a bit when they go in.   If I let them get warm (only as long as they suggest… I don’t want to take any chances this crap losing its efficacy … two grand a month is enough to make me stop and be very careful that it stays the way it is supposed to stay) it only kind of stings for a little bit.  Five minutes, it has diffused and it’s not even that.  The first few shots, I had a mild allergic reaction to.  A little bit of rash, itchy… but the pink allergy pills (I use the store brand usually because we tend to go through them and I can buy the store brand when they are in a buy one get one free box thing) and some hydrocortesone cream handled that… and it eventually just quit happening.

I’ve heard that ‘icing’ your injection site will make it not even hurt that much.  But I fight so much most days to keep an even temperature and not either freeze or roast that I just tough it out.

KEEP IN MIND!!!! These are MY experiences.  They probably won’t be yours, but it is way worse when the idea of the meds are in your head than it is when you start taking them for real.  If I had my ‘druthers’ I would not need to take these.  I would just go on my merry way and not cringe when I think about the fact that it is Tuesday morning or every other Thursday morning.  But this is my reality.  I would ALSO not have to walk around on my heels for about 90 minutes lately because dropping my dose made my fingers a toes a little pissed off.

If you’v read this far, it is probably your reality, too.  Or, you just got so caught up in the enthralling plot line that you couldn’t stop scrolling.  Either way… you got this far.  The world is starting to wake up, and someone has suddenly made me hungry for toast… so, I’m off (yeah yeah, my family would agree that I’m WAY off) to make toast and some tea (I’m thinking maybe Twinnings Christmas blend tea this morning and cinnamon toast) and start to take on the day!!!

Happy Frigid Friday!!!