June 18, 2011

I went for my intralipid infusion yesterday.  It was done at the infusion center in a hospital, which was basically just a small room with about 8 recliners in it.  It was a very humbling experience.  All of the other people in the room were very sick.  The two men on the end both had cancer and the one next to me had recently been in a coma.  They were all there getting blood transfusions.  They also do chemo in the room we were in, but no one was getting chemo yesterday.  I felt kind of guilty being there.  It was really sad to hear these people talk about what they are going through.  I found myself thanking God and praying for all of those people.  The nurse that was helping me was named Liz.  She was such a kindhearted, caring, positive person.  I'm amazed at how she helps those sick people every day.  One woman, who was in there with Lupus, asked her how she does it.  Liz replied that it was God that does it.  That He is using her to help these people.  I was so impressed by her.  Sometimes I wish I had chosen a career where I made a difference in peoples lives like that. 

The infusion went fine.  It took 4.5 hours, but it was pretty easy.  I just sat in my recliner with my IV in my arm and my laptop in my lap.  I didn't have any side effects at all while I was there.  At the end of my stay, a pregnant girl came in to get fluids because she was so dehydrated from throwing up.  I didn't feel so guilty about being there then.  I would have gladly traded places with her. 

I got home at 4:00 feeling fine and by 5:30 I started getting the chills.  My body didn't feel right at all.  I ended up with chills, shivering, fever, and nausea for the next two and a half hours.  It was horrible.  The sickest I've been in a long time.  Finally, I took Tylenol and the fever when away.  I was just left with a raging headache.  Apparently, these can be side effects from the Intralipids, which we found out by looking online.  But, it says less than 1% of people get side effects from it.  I don't know what it is about my body, but I am very sensitive to any medication these days.  PIO gives me fevers, intralipids make me ill, antibiotics give me rashes, ovarian stimulation drugs give me cysts...I could go on and on. Basically, if there are any possible or rare side effects, I will get them.   Dr. Mo is going to laugh when he hears about this.  

So that was my infusion experience.  I just hope getting that sick didn't hurt anything, and I hope that I will still get the benefits from the intralipids.  One thing is for sure though, I won't be doing that again.