I have made it so far

Well, it is hard for me to believe, but it has been a week today that I have been on my medication. It is going rather well, which is great.

I have found out what injection site areas I prefer, but I cannot use just one. There are 7 possible injection areas on the body to pick from each day: lower stomach area (abdomen - 2" from the naval), thighs, hips and arms. It is important not to inject in the same area more than once a week to help reduce any risks of injection site reactions, which can include swelling, pain itching and lumps.

I found two things out yesterday about my prescription:

1. Specialty pharmacy mix up - PharmaCare, the specialty pharmacy where I got my first supply of COPAXONE from is not the correct company that I should have been set up with. Isn't that just wonderful information. Someone messed up somewhere. It is too bad that I will no longer be using PharmaCare-they were always real nice and helpful when I called in. Hopefully the new company, CuraScript (Express Scripts' specialty pharmacy), will be just as easy to work with. All in all, I am now starting over with getting the prescription issue back in working order.
2. Copay - I had thought I would be able to get COPAXONEfor a 90-day supply. This would be very nice and much cheaper because it would only cost me $25 copay every 3 months. Yep, that was too good to be true for this prescription as I can only receive a 30-day supply per month per $25 copay. Something to plan in the budget :)

Well, that is all for now. I am not due back to see Dr. Aziz (my neurologist) until 6/20. It is such a nice relief to have a break from all of the frequent doctor visits.

5/23 Lab and MRI results

In my previous posting, I stated I would post what the MRI results were once I acquired translation into layman's terms :)
**Thank you to Casey for his assistance with the translation.**

• Lab Work:
  More blood work was completed to test for the following: lupus, syphilis, lyme disease, vasculitis’ (autoimmune inflammation of the blood vessels), vitamin B-12, folate and thyroid problems. The results came back normal.
  
  
• MRI Cervical Spine (C-Spine) and Thoracic Spine (T-Spine) w/and without gadolinium: *Cervical=neck; Thoracic=upper back; Gadolinium= contrast agent that helps different between active and old lesions--more at the end of 5/14's post explaining gadolinum, if necessary*
  
  Results found diffuse (spread out) lesions consistent with multiple sclerosis. The contrast agent did not enhance many lesions suggesting the multiple sclerosis is not new. These images cannot tell how long these lesions have been there.
  
  
• MRI Brain w/and without gadolinium (the contrast agent):
  The brain consists of gray and white matter. Gray matter is neurons that normally do not have myelin and the while matter is white due to being covered by myelin, which is the insulator that is attacked in MS.
  
  Results found white matter lesions in the periventricular areas. Periventricular areas are the areas of white matter surrounding cerebral spinal fluid filled areas in the brain. The cerebral spinal fluid contains the inflammatory substances that are believed to cause MS. This pattern of lesions is consistent with MS.
  
  The contrast-enhanced images did show a few active/new lesions in the corona radiata, which is a connection between sensory and motor neurons in the cerebrum (top of brain) and the body's nerves.
  
  The remaining findings from this MRI are similar to the findings from the C-Spine MRI mentioned above in that the results found diffuse (spread out) lesions consistent with multiple sclerosis.