My Ocrevus infusion was scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. at Queens Hospital Infusion Center. We told the transportation to get us there by 8:15 a.m. so they picked us up at 7:30 a.m. Mom came to me and rode with me to the hospital. The night shift had to get me dressed and in my wheelchair early in the morning. Everything went smoothly, and I had breakfast before they picked me up. We got there just fine, and they were not used to having to hoyer someone into the bed. The first hoyer they brought out was manual like I had used at home, but my sling could not work with that, so they had to get one from the hospital.
They got me in the bed, and next was the battle to get an IV started. As I have told countless people over the years, I was built for cosmetic purposes, not medical. My veins are deep and rolling. I am a legitimately hard stick. Nobody believes me off the bat, so the nurse had to give it a go on my left wrist. She thought she saw a good vein, but of course, they just made me bleed. They called the lady with the sonogram, who also tried my right elbow without the machine. Strike two. Even with the machine, she said my vein was very small and she had a hard time getting the needle in.
Once they had that in place, they gave me the pre-infusion medications, which were a steroid and benadryl. That made me sleepy, and I dozed on and off for the rest of the day. I ordered lunch off a menu, which was pretty large, I thought. I ended up choosing the chili and forgot to get a scoop of rice with it. I also got some chips and a piece of lilikoi cheesecake. It was a small square but very tasty.
We had to schedule the transportation back for a later time as the infusion was a little longer than I estimated. It is always a challenge to call the cab, but it got done, and we had a return pick-up time of four p.m. It would be close, but we should make it. And we did, just barely. We got back to the hospital where I live at 4:30. A very long day and I was tired. it ended up being a challenge to fall asleep. I eventually did and I feel fine today.
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