Going chronologically I guess the first update should be getting started on Growth Hormone. On the 6th September I went in to PIU and met Patsy, one of my CNSs. She took me into the store room (lol) because there was no more space and I was only gonna be a 10 minute stint. I complained of aches and pains (plantar fasciitis and achilles tendonitis BRILL) and she said it could be the Elhers Danlos, could have been how i walk or how flat my feet were and it could have all been going on for a long time and just masked by the cushings. Fantastic news. No longer dying but now in chronic pain ... Grr. She started by giving me a growth hormone goodie bag:
- A freezer bag
- two multipacks of ice packs
- a little case with a (what looks like an epi) pen, and a needle guard
- two boxes of growth hormone cartridges
- a box of antibacterial wipes
- a box of needles
- a sharps bin
- a few leaflets
The info about the growth hormone goes as such: Must be kept in the fridge (allowed out of the fridge for up to 8 hours in a cool bag with ice blocks). Must take out the fridge half an hour before using. Must change the cartridge every two weeks. Must increase the dosage every 4 weeks. And must remember to put all sharps in the sharps bin. Oh and will be delivered (from now on) to my home every 12 weeks (they will change my sharps bin).
What a bloody faff. Although in one of my previous posts I said I hoped the injection was the same as my emergency Hydrocortisone injection, I now do not. My mum keeps trying to get me to practice with some saline but even looking at those needles i want to cry and I have refused until this day... They are SO long and I just cant cope with the thought. The GH injections however are piss easy. It has to be injected into fat so the needle can only be short. Its about a cm long and about half a millimeter wide. Half the time i cant even feel it. I've got all my family (except my Dad of course) and most of my friends to try it. I think the general verdict is that its quite fun actually (except for me when my mum jabs in in like lightning or when Dusty makes me bleed or isnt too fun for Ashley when he doesnt press down on the nozzle so it goes into his eye instead of me).
It was boiling hot on the day I went in and I wanted to wear a light and airy dress so I could get the breeze up my thighs and not combust in the sun but I thought it would have to be injected into my tummy like the blood thinners I received when I was in hospital so I wore jeans... Patsy said its usually injected into the thigh... I sat on the chair in my skin tight black jeans as a little piece of my sweating heart cried.
Anyway, all in all I've been getting on with the injections quite well. I don't use the needle guard anymore as I figured I should get used to injections if I want to work in healthcare... but I have left it out the fridge overnight once, have forgotten to do it a few times and I do sometimes inject it without it being warmed up for 30 minutes but hey ho, nobodys perfect.
Here are a couple of pics (yes it does do a post-event dribble):
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