I had my first Remicade infusion on Tuesday, May 3rd, 2016. My mom drove me to my infusion appointment because she didn't believe I would be well enough to drive afterwards. It was nice to have a chauffeur for the day, but I would have been okay to drive myself. After I signed in at the front desk, I took a seat in the waiting room. It's no surprise that I was the youngest one in the waiting room by at least thirty or forty years. Sally, my nurse, called me back. Sally is the same nurse that helped me figure out insurance and the Remistart program. She asked me a few questions and began searching for a vein to insert the IV. When she found a vein on the first try, I confessed my love to her. Next, she began preparing Remicade to inject into my saline bag. The Remicade dose is based off of how much I weigh. Once I was all hooked up, Sally walked me into her spacious office that has three comfy reclining chairs facing her desk. Two of the three chairs were occupied by other patients getting infusions, so I took the empty one. Sally offered me water and coffee before sitting at her desk. Throughout the infusion, the other patients didn't talk, so I put on my Beat headphones, closed my eyes, and listened to music. Soon, the patients were done with their infusions and I was the only patient left. Intermittently, Sally got up to check the flow of the infusion. It was rather boring. The IV was a little uncomfortable and I felt a slight burning sensation while the medicine went into my vein. Cimzia also gave a burning sensation while being injected, so I didn't think much of it. It didn't take near as long as expected. My appointment was at 10am and I was done by 11:50am. I think I had a headache before I got the infusion, but after the infusion I had a really bad headache. Overall, it was no big deal...it's just my new normal.
My co-worker's mom used to get headaches and nausea from the Remicade and her nurse started putting something into the saline bag to prevent those side effects. I plan on talking with my nurse if I experience a bad headache again after my infusion on May 17th.
