The Waiting Room

Yesterday, I had an appointment with my RA doc to discuss my decision with my treatment. I think I mentioned in a previous post that I was considering the infusion route, because of my fear of injections (Yes, I know that an infusion consists of a needle, but for some reason I find the infusion less offensive).

My RA doc told me that since her practice no longer takes my insurance, that I cannot have the infusion done in her office. I would have to go to the hospital, where there would be a fee for me to have the infusion.

Crap.

And, there is still the issue of whether my insurance will cover the infusion. There are some prior authorization crapola that is tied to it. When I did the research with our insurance, I didn't realize that the infusion would be covered as major medical and not under the drug coverage.

Crap.

After all of that discussion. I decided that I would put my big girl panties on and try the Enbrel shot. The medication is pre-loaded into a cylinder like thing. You don't see the needle; in fact, it's a very small one. (Breathe sigh of relief). So, Husband and I were both trained on how to give the injection. We learned a little secret. If I take the injection in my stomach, it won't hurt as much.

Sure enough, it was true.

And, with the cylinder pen, getting the injection really wasn't that bad.

So, I am going to try Enbrel for a while and see if I notice anything different. So far, no reall side effects.

I guess I'm a big girl now.