Well, I took the advice on getting stuck before the first round and it wound blowing up and I had to get stuck again anyway. Other than that went smooth, from looking myself my left eye is getting pretty bad, but I knew from having to look through the darn thing. Nothing else notable that I could see but we'll wait on the radiologist to make any declarations. Hope yours went smooth too Dejibo.

Got up at the crack of ugly to get ready. Was loaded in the truck, and off we went. Listened to our book on MP3 so that was fun. We are on a good story. Talked a bit on the way up there. Frank is still of the mind that we must save this drug we are on. Me? I am of the mind that I am sick of the freaky side effects, and am about ready to lay its *** down, but we both decide that we will have a frank talk with the MD and will abide by his choices.

We are early, they are running late. Great big fat lady ahead of me, took only a lil tiny baby pill to help her get in the tube. I knew from the way she was acting, that this was gonna be a mess. She needed to be removed from the tube, an IV started, and given massive amounts of drugs to complete the scan. its a new scanner. Telsa 1.5 the strongest they make. It can hold up to 350 pound patients, but they would be smushed in like peanut butter. The other scanner was tied up with a mom and disabled child. The girl has a shunt in her head, and just needs to have it checked to see if its in place. She normally goes to Boston, but here at Dartmouth, she can crawl in the scanner with her daughter, for the 2 min scan, and keep her entertained. Stressful but it works, and the child isnt zonked out on drugs, and pulling tubes and wires, and requiring an over night stay in the hospital. Finally they call me for my IV. I am not just a hard stick, I am a horrific stick. Harry is not on today, and was transferred to the ER nights. HE was my dream. he could get blood from a rock. Pregnant nurse #1 comes in. Gives me 1mg ativan under the tongue. "thats a good start I say" She lines me up, cant find squat. I point out 2 chances for her. I roll my arm over, and let her shoot. nope, and nadda. 2 tries means bye bye. Next nurse tall and thin bragggin about how far things have cme since I had my chemo, and the damage the old stuff did to the veins was criminal. Gave me wonderful advice to get the veins back. I heard this advice 10 years ago. It didnt work then, why would it work now. One strike, and I kicked her out. My arms are starting to look choppy, as everyone wants to shave them. #3 pops in, cheerful and cute. (i can fix that, fast) she has me roll over, and cock my arm. Sees a monster vein, and is gonna go for it. She threads right on past it, creates a hemotoma, and she is bounced. #4 comes in, timid and afraid. she washes her hands, looks, and looks, and looks, and looks. I asked her to go get someone else. #5 comes in. Speaking how she works in the ER, and blah blah. Bubbly and cute. 2 tries up, and she is outta there. (I think she had tears in her eyes) #6 comes in with #7. Team work. I like it. 6 rolls my arm, traps the vein, and 7 sticks it, gets her flash, and threads it. tries to flush it and ...nothing! good try girls. They grab the other arm, shave more hair chunks out of it. Wrap my arm up behind my back. One steadies the vein, the other one threads it, and a nice flash is had. A good flush, and TA DA! I can taste it! I always know they are in if I can taste it. took 7 of them to get a pediatric IV line started. sheesh! I know I am a tough stick, but come on girls. Next stop was gonna be a leg. She gave me another 1mg of ativan to put under my tongue, and shoved me towards the scanner. I had a sparkle on my shirt, so he insisted it come off. drat!

I stood by the scanner, and asked for, a knee block to keep my legs up. Head phones to keep the noise down. blankets from the warmer to keep me from freezing to death. Before I knew it i was laying on the table, with my lil heart thumping, and banging. the drugs had not fully kicked in, and I knew I was gonna have to suck it up. I finally asked his name. "i am mark" he said. Great! I knew who I was talking to . He was great about talking to me and cheerleding me. About a half hour in the drugs started to snuggle me in. Then I hear a girls voice. "i dont like tht last scan, we are going to do it again. STOP MOVING! I know its hard but stay calm." I said , um, er...who are you? "im terry" then silence. I interupted with "wheres mark?" after several seconds pass. "he went to lunch. you got me now." DAMNIT! Just when I thought I was in the clear, nothing was gonna happen. Now I get pushy Terry. She was gruff, to the point, no extras for you. just did her job kinda girl. That ramped up my anxiety, and she did three more 7 minute runs, and then pulled me out for the Gad dye. I begged her to please push slow. I have fragile veins, and would hate to spend this week with phelbitis like last time. I got a 3 minute lecture on how tough veins are, and how much stress they can handle, and blah blah as she was pounding this stuff in. metal mouth, headache, and ****** with my newly sore arm, she shoved me back in the tube. 2 more 4 minute scans and I was free. When i sat up, I explained to her that I felt she was out of line to be so aggressive with me. Mark and I had it handled, and before she comes in to take over, should at least introduce herself. I pointed to my swollen red IV line and told her if I got phelbitis again, I was going to file a written complaint.

Wobbly and angry, I headed for the wait room to get the hubby. We ate a nice lunch at the cafe. (mangosteen was added to my juice!) anyway, we ate, and went off to the appointment.

MS dude says Copaxone can be easy to take or hard to take, and it appears its taking its toll on me. He isnt ready to take me off, but is concerned with some of the things that are happening. Wants to take me off for 2 weeks, and gonna see if all dramatically improve or stay the same. He thinks I am night sweating from age, not drugs. I explained I had surgical menopause in 83, and long since past all that. no night sweats till dx with MS, and its meds. he was upset with how deep the dents are from the drug, but said to find other places to shoot. He mentioned that it may be time to switch over to another DMD like Avonex. I explained that on Beta I had a severe reaction, and set a clinic record for the highest liver enzemes. He said he would be willing to give it a chance. Either that or he would want to see me on Tysabri. I almost feel off my chair. This is the clinic that ALWAYS tells me to stay away from it, and now has become pro? what gives?! I looked around, and there were Ty notebooks, TY books, TY stickers, TY seminars, and TY counselors. Well, 6 months ago, they wouldnt even discuss Ty in this place. Now they are cheerleading it. more than scared me.

Decisions are
Glioma is the same. no change.
MS is still considered average, and requires a DMD according to him.
Will be given a 2 week break off the copaxone and will track all sx to see which ones stay or go. He fully expects that either way, when the two weeks is up, I will be back on Copaxone, and will have to stick it out, even with side effects. I got the "benefits outweight the risks" speach.

Thanks for all the support.

Happy all went well and you have a 2 week reprieve of Copaxone..

Way to go Dej!!!! Bet you came out better than all those nurses who tried to stick you! That bad vein thing is the pitts.....me too. Also glad your MRI went okay, Keith. At least your docs know what's been going on inside your heads.

I didn't join in with the 'before' tips since having an MRI is one of the few things that don't seem to bother me. A blanket is a necessity and probably next time the knee block will be added, but I just keep my eyes closed until I'm in there and then gradually open them. It's kind of neat to look around as much as possible and the banging and clanging make it seem like I'm inside a video game. Guess I must be the weird one. One time I did have trouble with the GAD, it leaked out from the vein and the pain was horrible. Almost threw up in the tube but they got me out and after sitting up awhile, the yucky feeling went away. Usually I'm so relaxed that I almost fall asleep until the noise jolts me awake.

Guess having MS makes us a tough bunch -- have to be to get through each day. Good luck with your copax decision and congrats again for conquering the tube!!!!

You beat my record of number of sticks and number of people trying. Last time I went in, I think I had 3 or 4 different people try and I'm not sure how many actual sticks (I think I blocked it). They said my veins were fried from the IVSM.

I had breast cancer, and did multiple rounds of very harsh chemo, along with the IV antibiotics they used to give at the time. I ended up with a port many years ago, but after 5 years clean, I had the port removed. It was so rare for me to need an IV and the port bugged me. I usually end up using a leg or something for IV access now. HURTS! but with talent they can get an arm. Not for the weak at heart. I ended up having to shave my hairy arms, and was impressed by how many scars are left behind from all the past treatments.

I dont have to do another MRI for 1 year. Wahoo!

I am so happy its over.

i'm happy it's over too.

i think you should still file a written complaint on that chick.
that was unprofessional to say the least.

at least the glioma is stable.

hang in there. what a trip!