I did it!

Today I gave myself my very first injection. 

And it still feels so surreal to say that. 

A lovely nurse came over for 2 hours to teach me everything and to let me practice (with fake meds and a little patch of fake skin).  We programmed my auto-injector for needle speed, injection speed, injection depth, and injection time.  Then it was time to go - I did this injection on my upper thigh, as it's a good starting point (I need to vary the location of each injection).  I inserted the needle into the injector, removed the cap, made sure the correct dosage was indicated.  Then I pressed the machine to my leg and waited for the infrared sensor to know it was next to my skin.  That makes the top of the machine glow green - and tells me everything is ready and I can release the needle.  The nurse put her hand on top of mine to ensure I wouldn't automatically flinch away.  Then it was up to me - I had to press that glowing green button.  She told me I could take some deep breaths, or count, or do anything that would help.  What I needed was to just press that button... so I did.  I felt the needle go in - but it wasn't too bad.  I could feel the medication go in, and the needle come back out - which hurt more.  The entire process takes about 10 seconds.  Then my machine beeps twice to let me know everything is done and I move it away from my body.  Then I remove the needle from the machine, put it in my sharps bin, clean up the tiny amount of blood (I am bleeder), and massage the area for a few minutes.

Doing this - successfully - for the first time, makes me happy.  I can do this.  I can purposefully stick a needle into my body - without knowing what will come of it.

A few hours later - I am starting to feel the side effects full-force.  My head hurts, my body aches and I feel a bit off.  I am going to tuck myself into bed with some Facebook and my Kobo to relax now.

See you again on Monday, auto-injector.  Left thigh next time...