Well That Hurt…

“Oh, no”, that’s not really the comment you’re looking for when bent over a chair recieving a Sandostatin injection. Now I’ve always had the best nurses and this has happened only one other time since I’ve started getting this treatment, but it’s not good news. “The medicine has blocked (which means it has jammed up in the needle), I’ve got to go get another needle, I’m so sorry”, is what my nurse says. She apologizes over and over on her way to grab a new one, I tell her, “it’s alright, these things happen”, I don’t know if it’s me, but I don’t think I’ve had much luck at all lately and I use the word luck loosely. I wait, half bent over this my left butt cheek exposed, no one else is booked in the clinic while I’m there, so it’s just myself and her and some terrible boat reality type show playing on the television, I wish it was muted. She hurries back and replaces the needle and I assume the position and the second poke goes in smoothly, thank god. I pull my shorts and boxers back up, and wait while the next dose is mixed up, in the minute it takes for that to happen the nurse assures that is one of the very few times this ever happened to her. I tell her it must because I parked in a different spot today and I jinxed myself, you see I’m a little bit of a creature of habit. I’ve parked in the same spot in the relatively empty parking lot since I started coming to this lab for my medicine and for some reason today I choose a different spot and I even muttered to myself on the way in that something will probably go wrong. Maybe I should read fortunes for a living? Unreal.

After a bit of small talk she returns with my next shot, it needs to be constantly shaken and quickly administered, drawbacks of a thick medicine. I raise from my seat and once again loosen my shorts and bend over, this time with my right butt cheek exposed. While she quickly sets up and cleans the area, we have a little fun at my expense and the position I always seem to take, hands on the arm chair in front of me, elbow bent and my ass pushed out, hanging on for dear life, lol. Not a whole lot of meat on my butt either for her to jab that 2″ needle in, “At least the running has added muscle she says, easier for the injection, unfortunately a little more painful. She says, “Ok, big poke” the needle catches a small nerve, causing a small flinch on my part, then there’s a short moment of uncomfortable pressure as the medicine enters my body and the needle is drawn out.

Now finished, I pull my shorts and boxers back up, I get handed the receipt for the treatment administered today and as always I’m blown away by the cost, thank goodness for coverage. The total cost is more then I make in a month of working, so how that works without some kind of assistance remains a mystery, I get that everyone needs to make money, but Wow! Like I’ve said before I’m fortunate to have coverage, the stress of worrying about the financial impact of having cancer is something that nobody should have to deal with. I’ll tell you the physical, mental and emotional stress is more then enough. My nurse and I confirm the next appointment date, which seems all to soon, she apologizes for the extra poke one last time to which I responded, “It really is no worry, shit happens, I’ll be ok.” We share a quick laugh, what’s the sense of being upset? Hell, I’ve been poked so many times the last month I feel like a human pin cushion, what’ one extra.

I exit the building the whole process only takes maybe fifteen minutes maximum, I hop in my vehicle fire her up and as usual no matter the temperature outside on goes the seat warmer to help sooth the ache that starts to set in. It takes about 45 minutes to drive home and believe that warmth does help, as I sit here the morning after finishing this post, that is when the uncomfortableness is at its highest, stretching and heat does help and although sore, I know in a day or two it will subside. 27 days until the next shot…yah!