Post-Enbrel

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I had my first injection of Enbrel on Wednesday of this week. I signed up for the Enbrel support program, which covers my costs for the first six months and assigns a Registered Nurse to come to my home and walk me through the first treatment. My nurse's name is Nancy, and she was great. She spent an hour and a half with me, and we had a fun time. I also managed to learn a lot about the medication in the midst of talking and laughing about a little bit of everything. Sometimes, you meet someone who is just meant to be a friend. It was like that with Nancy. I'm very glad that she will be available to help me out, but more than that, I'm glad to have met her.

The injection went well, but I have to admit that it hurt like bloody hell for about twenty seconds.  It takes fifteen seconds for the medication delivery, and it felt like injecting battery acid mixed with broken glass. Fortunately, the pain went away almost immediately. So far, I've had no site reaction - not even a bruise. I didn't expect to feel different right away, but two things have changed since Wednesday. First, yesterday, I was so tired by 5:30 that I kept falling asleep while trying to update my MS Office software. I literally could not keep my eyes open. Second, this afternoon, I had a sudden burst of energy. I mowed my yard, got out the push mower, did most of the areas that I usually just can't do, and then fired up the weed-eater and did three-quarters of the trimming. I could have finished, but the battery ran out and the other one wasn't fully charged yet. After that, I still had a huge amount of energy, so I got in the car and went to a hardware store, where I bought an electric hedge trimmer. If I feel this good tomorrow, I will finish the weed-eating for the first time in over a year, and then trim the bushes in front of my house, also for the first time in a year.

Maybe it's the Enbrel. Maybe it isn't. Either way, I feel great. I'll take it!

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