The “Oh So Wonderful” Thymus Injections

As I mentioned in my pervious post, to prepare for my treatment in October I have to receive thymus therapy via injections.

These injections help increase the number of stem cells in your blood and start the immune modulation part of your therapy. The immune modulation and thymus injections will continue in Germany as well. I have 10 shots total. One shot every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday until they are finished.

Now honestly, anyone that says these injections are no big deal are not being real. These shots are no fun! To give you a little bit of reference on my pain tolerance, I have two tattoos, I have had surgery where I developed an infection, with my prior treatment I did blood work every 2 and a half months, I have had 10 injections in a period of 12 hours due to a post surgery infection…..you get the picture. When I was little I would scream and cry and try to run out the room when I heard the dreaded word needle, but now they just don’t phase me.

I was warned that these injections stung a little. So I thought, “ehh, okay, I ‘may’ feel this a little.” I was instructed to put the injection in my stomach area. Tyler, thankfully, offered to give me the injections.

I DID NOT expect the first injection to be so painful. Initially, Tyler was a little hesitant when it came to what technique to use as I did bruise the first time we tried it, but really it was not the prick, but the stupid medicine. Burns a “little” is an understatement. For me, the area gets red and a little itchy and BURNS for up to 15 minutes after the injection.

Don’t get me wrong, I love the long term benefits of the thymus treatment but…..it’s just not something I look forward to. 

Tyler and I have a slightly better system thanks to a suggestion from my dad. After I swab the injection site, I use a piece of ice and hold it on the spot until Tyler is ready with the shot. Honesty, I don’t even feel the prick, I usually only grab his shirt after he has started pushing the medication due to the burn. So, for anyone who is struggling with the thymus treatment, try ice. It helps a little with the initial prick, but the burn, well, that you just have to wait out till it’s gone. And to top it all off I will receive about 20 more of these injections during my treatment (UGHHHH)!

There are other side effects that I have also experienced as a result of these shots, including severe fatigue and an increase in pain, which sucks because my pain is pretty intense anyway.

The work with Dr. Cannon, the atlas orthogonal chiropractor I have been seeing in Portsmouth, NH are yielding slow but positive results. He has already been using cold laser on my back and neck, but I will ask him during my next visit to start using the cold laser on my sternum and my shins. Dr. Michael says this helps with the amount of stem cells that are generated within the bone marrow.

Time is moving quickly! I will be in Germany with my Mom and Tyler before I even realize it. I am getting a little anxious; there are just so many what ifs. Thankfully, I have such a great support system between my family and friends that I know this is something that I can conquer.

16 Days and counting ’till take off.