Doctor Sena phoned me 15 minutes before i planned to leave for the hospital. He told me to go meet him directly ASAP to get the prescription of the Rebif 44, and said he needed a favour from “my area”.

I rushed there, and waited in front of his office (today, #23 again). I only waited 3 minutes, while a friend of his offered him 3 hardcopy magazines of the Lancet Neurology Magazine (which costs  $ 1,109.90 for a 1-year subscription). I took a glimpse to see if there were 3 of the same issue, but there weren’t. (if they were, yeah i’d ask for one. :P)

He has a 3 year old PC which was a gift. Being a gift, it had to be the bare minimum to function 3 years ago. So, i recommended an upgrade. Later on, i SMSd him the contacts for CHIP7 (he lives 15 mns from me, so it’s close). Also said i’d be available if he needed any help. And i’d really be glad to help, if needed. At least he was polite when he asked, and he didn’t even “need” to, i’d help him anyway.

Got the prescriptions, went to Nurse Cristina’s office. Was closed, i sat for a bit, and after 5 minutes she arrived. For the first time (oh, PANIC) she didn’t call me first. I waited another 15 mns (had time to read all my daily RSS Feeds), and she called me next. Assuming there were 5 people there waiting, i again jumped the queue. *wicked grin*

I told her i had forgotten my injection bag and ice packs at home, a bit ashamed of it. She just said “no problem, i got a spare”, got out, and came back with: an injection bad, AND a gift - another bag, very small, and perfect for travelling. Much smaller than the big one i had to take to Berlin, and enough to take 1-2 weeks of injections. Awesome.

We talked about my first 10mm-depth Rebif, and how it was a bit tougher. She did say for me to try as much as i can to keep at 10mm in the places i feel more comfortable with. So, i’ll keep skipping the left leg and arms and try the others at 10mm.

Then, she weighed me. I lost another 2 or 3kg. She made a worried face and inquired about my health habits. I told her i eat many times a day, and have been keeping a healthy diet, gluten-free, sugar-free, salt-reduced.

She said that, at THIS TIME, it’s MORE important for me to gain weight, than to be 100% healthy. She told be to “abuse fat”. If needed, when i do the next blood exams, we can fix anything bad that comes from there. But now… gain weight by any means. My body needs more “meat cushion” to withstand the Rebif 22 at 10mm. And when i start with the Rebif 44.. gulp.

All this, of course, comes from the worsening of my right hand spasticity, and i realize why: if we need to push it a bit so that it doesn’t spread to my wrist and arm.. i understand that.

We didn’t chat so much as yesterday, but still.. something like a 20 minutes talk.

Went to get the Rebif 44, and proceeded to the IV. This time i didn’t have to go through the bureaucracy of office #14, because the prescription was made by Doctor Sena himself. Hah!

The IV started badly. Instead of Cortisone going in, blood started going out through the tube. Yeah, I took a pic.

Lunch was fish again. Bleh.

The usual suspects in the room:

Isabel #1 - the girl who i met yesterday - her last day of the 5 day session. She was trying to fake a good mood, but she was obviously sad, she had yet to see any improvement with the 5 IVs.

Isabel #2 - The mother of the damn kids from last IV session was more communicative this time, and the kids more polite.

She recognized me, and asked what happened to me this time, and talked about what happened to her.

MS attacked her eye, was down to 40% vision, upgraded to Copaxone and said that Dr. Sena mentioned that she might need something even stronger (maybe Tysabri, known for good results but nasty side effects).

Then, for the first time, she looked like a nice person, and talked a bit about how she is 88% “officially handicapped”. MS starts at 60%, and she told me in detail what needs to be done for all the paperwork. I had an idea, but she tried to go into excruciating detail. She WAS trying to be nice, though, so i politely listened to her from start to end.