Today I am going to the doctors to get my prescription for Xolair. It's an injection for allergic asthma. The side affects are pretty scary, 5% higher risk for cancer, 20% higher risk of bronchial infections and on and on. Not to mention a significant amount of people go into anaphylaxis when they are injected. They said to be sure to bring my epi pen and have it ready. It will take two weeks to get it in. It has to be special ordered. When they get it I will go in for my first injection. It has to be mixed together 1/2 hour before the injection and I will have to stay at least two hours at the doctors office after the injection.

Today I am getting a flu shot. Again, I have to have my epi pen handy since I'm allergic to flu shots (eggs). After talking to the doctor though, we think it's worth the risk. I get that at 1 pm today and again, they said to be sure to bring my epi pen and have it handy.. Woo Hoo! ;-)

Life used to be so simple and easy before the D. Never had these problems before. Or maybe I should say I've never had these worries before. I've had pneumonia and few times but got through it without hospitalization. Had double pneumonia once, and got through it without hospitalization. But never have I had to take all these meds for my asthma or allergies. I never had an emergency inhaler till I go the D. Now I use a nebulizer, steroid inhaler (advair 500/50) in the morning and night, theophyllin 300 twice a day, singulair, prednisone, clariton, emergency inhalers and on and on.

Then there's the cholesterol meds, the insulin injections, actos, metformin for the D and cozaar for blood pressure. Then of course the supplements; fish oil three times a day, a diabetes health pack (package of 6 pills for diabetics) and of course the anti-depressant (which from the sound of this blog post is not working well ).

Sorry for the rainting, just worried about the flu shot today and beginning the Xolair. Then I have to worry about getting the H1N1 vaccine. First let's see how the regular flu shot goes. ;-) I have refills on my epi pen, but I'm really hoping I never need to use them.

I think this would be much easier if I had someone to go through it with me. Someone to help me through the anxiety of it all. Someone to hold my hand and say it's going to be ok. But who in their right mind would want to go through this? Having someone at your side when you have the D with this many problems is not something you find midstream. I think it would have to be someone that was with you before the D, already established enough to want to go through it with you. Not a good way to start a relationship. ;-)

Enough ranting for now. Have a great and safe Halloween. Oh, and hide the chocolate. I love candy. ;-)