Remicade, part 2

Last Friday I had my second infusion of Remicade (aka rat protein, aka wonder drug, aka inFLIXimab). As with my first infusion, it was super easy. No side effects, no problems, just 3 hours of me sitting in a recliner, blogging, knitting & instagramming. Not a bad life.

A few pics from my second infusion: 400mg of Remicade administered into my vein over the course of two hours, a poster in the hallway reminding me of all the germs infesting my body in the hospital where I receive my immune-suppressing medication (cruel, cruel irony that I have a bad cold as I type this), and my reward for having a needle placed in my arm during the lunchtime hour: falafel sandwich from Falafil King near the hospital. :)

All in all, it's been a smooth process. I'm thankful to be feeling better. My bloodwork still indicates that there is inflammation in my body, but my physical symptoms indicate that healing is indeed taking place. Since starting prednisone and then remicade, I've gone from losing lots of blood and going to the bathroom upwards of 10 times a day to normal, 1-2x/day visits to the bathroom. No more joint pain, no nausea. The only pregnancy symptom I'm experiencing currently is heartburn in the evenings. I'm feeling quite good.

Thanks for all your prayers and words of encouragement! Keep praying that the drug does its job and sends my colitis into permanent remission.