59th Tysabri Infusion

Yesterday I had my 59th Tysabri infusion and it's safe to say that yesterday was my best infusion yet. The infusion center I go to features two rooms connected by a nurses station and each room has four infusion chairs. The newly added room features individual TVs and the older room has two TVs that are usually streaming some kind of awful daytime programming.

If you're new to the site you are probably wondering what the heck Tysabri is and why I think TVs are apparently a important topic. Well, Tysabri is a once of month IV infusion drug for MS and the drug typically takes a hour to infuse and then there's an addition one hour wait period afterwards to make sure there are no reactions.

Since I've been going for quite some time now I have a routine down. I always bring a book (or Kindle) as well as a additional Internet receiving device (iPad/iTouch/laptop) because sometimes the neuro clinic is loud and reading is nearly impossible. For the most part people don't typically talk to each other, at least when I go that seems to be the case. Honestly, people are usually sleeping when I am there so it's not too exciting.

Anyways, yesterday was a bit different. My face was the number one discussion topic in the first 20 minutes, mainly how well its healed since my before picture was taken (the same one I shared here). It's been just over two weeks since my crash and I'm pretty much healed, aside from the scars and a spot of my chin. I spent some time reading in between my 6 month checkup, which I usually can schedule right in the middle of a Tysabri appointment which is very convenient. The last 45 minutes or so I spent chatting with the women next to me who also had MS and was in her 40's. We talked about her trip to Charlotte and her insane travel story coming back and then she started asking about my biking and how I got into it.

I shared the story from the beginning and told her bits and pieces of my diagnosis and it was great to share and have a discussion between the two of us that was not a competition of symptoms but more of a inspiration to keep pushing on. I mentioned that my cycling team donates all of the profits to a mobile mammography unit and she was more than delighted because she's been cancer free for 5 years after battling breast cancer. Talking to this breast cancer survivor who has also been fighting MS for almost 20 years was amazing and she was such a inspiration to me.

She kept mentioning that I was a inspiration to her and to everyone else. My infusion nurse, who has been there since day one, kept agreeing and kept mentioning that it's time to get my story out there so I can help inspire people.

It seems so crazy to me that someone would think of me as a inspiration, especially when I'm talking to a women who has faced much more than me and is still so encouraging. Before I left the clinic the woman I spent all that time talking to asked for a hug so of course I obliged.

As I left the clinic I felt so happy, so inspired and so positive.

[Side note: I've added a contact me form to the right side of the page which makes it super easy for you to contact me if you have any questions, comments or just want to chat. I'm more than happy to help in any way possible!]