All About Benlysta

Yesterday I had my second Benlysta infusion. It went very well: I wore a tiara, a warm handknit sweater, and brought a warm blanket (cold room + cold IV = double cold Summer).

A very nice person in my local Buy Nothing group gave me this beautiful tiara

The infusion process:

IV is started (easy peasy when you have an excellent infusion nurse)
Benadryl is run (caused phlebitis last time so it was diluted before being run w/ saline)
IV machine beeps a few times, for various reasons.
Benadryl makes me dopey so I insert headphones, wrap up in blanket, and relax
Benlysta is started--the main event!!!
Benlysta takes an hour so I fiddle with my iPad, listen to music, and chat with the nurse
Few more interspersed machine beeps

Then it's done: IV is removed, arm is wrapped, and I go home

This week was extra special because the wrap matched my sweater :)

So far my side effects are:
Post-infusion fatigue, though it hasn't kicked in this time (Yay!)
Insomnia. I doze in bed for hours but can't fall asleep before almost crack-of-dawn-o'clock
Headache
Nausea and loss of appetite

I'm hoping these fade as my body adjusts to the new med. Especially the insomnia.

One Sleeve Down...

The whole thing,
basted shut

...most of a sweater to go.  But I'm looking on the bright side, so: Sleeve!

I started the second sleeve before finishing the first, since I had to wet block it to get an accurate length measure before starting the sleeve cap.  So it was nice to pick up after the ribbing and get right into cables again.


Here's a better photo of the cables.  I'm halfway up the forearm on the second sleeve.  It's going to be epic :)

New Year, New Sweater

I saw a photo of this sweater, then saw this bright coral yarn on sale, and had to make the sweater from it.  Plus the pattern designer is tall so no alterations!

So far I have half a sleeve done.  Picasa is being cranky so I only have an old photo, just before I ripped out several inches because I'd been crossing the cables wrong.  But you get the idea.  The yarn's color is really hard to capture, it's like fresh wild salmon.

Blackberry Cabled Cardigan, Alexandra Dafoe