Yesterday was my visit with the field nurse affiliated with the medicine I am taking. She told me all about the medicine, what it can and cannot do, the side effects, and then she showed me how to do an injection. I practiced on a faux-flesh pad thing, and then practiced with the auto-injector. Then, the big moment came to do it to myself. It didn't hurt at all. Now, I have plenty of fat on my tummy to inject into, and the needle is really thin, but I was surprised. I didn't even feel a sting. Now, maybe I had too much adrenaline going through my body; maybe next time will be different. But so far so good.

There are 8 different places on my body I can inject--actually 4, both sides of my body makes it 8. They are: my stomach, my thigh, the back of my arm, and the top of my butt/hip. The stomach and thigh seem like no problem; the others seem a bit trickier.

In a sense, the injections made it more "real." Yes, I was on steroids, but this is the first thing I have done that is specifically for MS. I'm totally okay with it; it just was more real, if that makes sense.

My counselor seems surprised that I am not emotional about this. People at my parents church are like, "How are you??" with concerned looks on their faces. I respond, "I'm good, how are you?" I mean, seriously, it's what life has handed to me, and there is nothing I can do except take the proper medicine. It's possible that I have been so much in planning mode (dealing with insurance, trying to get funding for meds, etc) that I have been unable to "feel" it yet. Or maybe when I have a new flare up of symptoms, I will break down. But so far, I am okay--minus the first couple of days where I cried a lot.

So, that's the update. Thanks for asking Gina :)