Friday, December 25, 2009

The best Christmas ever!

I am so happy to be an aunt to the cutest babies in the world! We had an amazing Christmas together! I love you Beckett, Alexis, and Max!

Merry Christmas!

I am having a great Christmas in Idaho this year with my whole family! I will be posting pictures when I get home! Merry Christmas to all my wonderful family and friends! I love you all! Best Wishes for the new year!

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Chronic Hives for Two Years = No Fun...










No, those aren't a picture of my hives, but they look pretty close! I have now been suffering from almost daily breakouts of hives for two years. Not really an anniversary that you would want to celebrate. I do have to say that the current medication that I am on has made my condition bearable, but I would still like to not worry about breaking out in hives randomly for no reason.
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I just went to the dermatologist last week and he is starting me on some new medication. Most of you probably already read about my enjoyable (not) experience with getting my blood drawn on facebook. Luckily I didn't get any bruises from all those pokes! Pretty amazing!
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The new medication I am starting is called Enbrel. (pictured above) The doctor told me that I would be getting a pen autoinjector, but when I got the medication home I have pre-filled syringes. Yikes! The third picture is of the syringe. I am proud of myself because I actually was able to inject myself with it, and I didn't even freak out (much). It was kind of stressful, but I follwed the instructions online and it went okay.
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My doctor studies chronic autoimmune hives cases like mine, and he has seen a lot of success with Enbrel. He said that two of his patients had hives for over 20 years (I can't even imagine that, knock on wood) and Enbrel helped them be hive free in 6 months. I hope to be another one of those success stories! Please keep your fingers crossed for me!