Although, this moment lies almost six years in the past I can still remember that day the like it was yesterday.
It didn’t take long for me to set up the appointment for the Avonex nurse to come see me. The nurse came into our house and showed me how I am supposed to clean my hands, set up the clean area so that I can mix my Avonex – yes, during my first couple of years I didn’t have the pleasure of receiving an already filled syringe, clean the injection side and put the long needle into my leg. I had to withdraw 1.0 ml of normal saline and mix it with the white tablet in the other bottle, gently swirl the vial without making bubbles, looking wether the liquid turned yellow or stayed nice and clear before filling up the needle that should soon get in contact with my leg. My problem wasn’t really the mixing of the drug. My problem was that long needle. How should I ever jam that thing into my muscle? The Avonex nurse showed me via an orange how to stick the needle into the orange skin. Again, I don’t mind sticking an orange skin. An orange skin can’t feel pain. But I can!
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