We had a 9:00am appointment and so I assumed that meant that my treatment would probably start right around then. After checking in, getting weighed (eww), giving blood, taking pre-meds (Tylenol and Benadryl), it was about 10:00am. They started me on IV fluids and put in my prescription for the IVIG. IVIG is extremely expensive and needs to be made pretty much right before it's given, so it had to be filled in the hospital pharmacy, and that took about 45 minutes also. By the time the actual treatment started it was about 10:30am. Dr. Vaught is the doctor who oversees me when I go to the hospital and he stopped by to see me and just check to see everything was going well.
My nurse was incredibly sweet and funny... I totally had a girl crush on her, but she also admitted that she'd never given IVIG to a pregnant person and was following a chart that mapped out my dosage based on my weight. It just feels a little scary when you're someone's first, and I was sure she was capable... but it just made me a little more anxious (as if I needed that). They slowly upped the dosage over the course of about 4 hours and for the last 3 hours I was receiving my highest dose which was 180. I did begin to have a pretty killer headache when they started the 180, but the nurse gave me some meds and told me to eat something to feel better.
During the treatment, I was tired but it was actually really nice to be able to spend some alone time with Aaron. He called it "our date.". We watched TV, tried to binge watch Game of Thrones (but the internet wasn't cooperating), we ate and just laughed and talked. That part was great. We also got to have a sonogram of the baby and see the heartbeat which was right around 150, which was SO exciting. I slept some, peed at least once an hour and of course texted with my incredibly supportive friends and family. Shout out to my momma, my brothers and sister, and my best friends!! ❤️❤️❤️
The treatment ended right around 5:30pm. At the end of the treatment, they pushed the rest of the bag of fluids and basically just sent me on my way telling me to continue taking my prenatals and to come back if I had any side effects. Dr. Vaught had told me the most common side effect was a headache, which I already had before leaving... so I figured there it is, this is the side effect... I can handle this. Boy, was I wrong.
By the next morning, my headache had progressed into a full blown migraine with all the trimmings. I asked Dr. Vaught what to do, he said take Tylenol and come in if it doesn't get any better. Well it didn't, it only became worse... enough for me to admit to Aaron that I may need to go back to the hospital. I honestly cannot even describe the pain I felt it my head... I felt like the pressure in my head may blow it off and the only thing keeping it down on my neck was the constant hammering of my obnoxiously loud heartbeat pounding all over my brain. So...NaNa came back and off we went again. I couldn't really see, and Aaron had to pretty much guide me everywhere. They took me back into Labor and Delivery and tried to start an IV for fluids... but instead they poked through my vein and filled up my arm with fluids... They tried again in my other arm and they got it after a few tries.
They gave me Tylenol and Reglan, which slightly helped... but my pain was still severe. They decided to pump Compazine straight into my IV along with Prednisone. And let me tell you... if I ever have to get Prednisone again, everyone better watch out. It made me CRAZY... not funny crazy, SCARY CRAZY. I tried to pull my IV out myself and got super hot, started throwing my covers off and freaking out. Thank goodness Aaron was there, because I could not calm myself down. I hope and pray that I never have to get that again... EVER.
After being there for 6 hours, I was sent home with some prescriptions and told to take it easy and take my meds when needed. I continued my meds throughout the next day, but was having a really hard time sleeping and finally by Saturday I started to feel like myself again.
After talking with my doctor, my hopes of being able to start home treatment for the next round had been squashed, citing the bad reaction to the IVIG as a reason to receive my next treatment at the hospital again. So we will try again, next time at a slower rate and hopefully I'll be able to fight off the gnarly headaches. Until then, my friends... Thanks for reading and supporting our journey!
Stay Positive!
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