My fourth Enbrel injection is today.
There’s more to it than just learning how to give yourself shots. There are other things to consider that aren’t an issue when you go to the doctor. Location: where in the house do I do it? Storage: where do I keep all the stuff? Scheduling: what time of day and which day of the week will work best for my long-term schedule? Site Rotation: what’s a good way to keep track?
Location – People talk of doing their injections in their bedroom – or in the bathroom. Given that I don’t lift my shirt or drop my pants anywhere else, these private locations seem reasonable. Well, they seemed reasonable until I considered the logistics:
- Go downstairs to remove medicine from refrigerator
- Take syringe upstairs to bedroom – set on end table
- Retrieve alcohol wipes from medicine cabinet – end table is full, set on bed
- Find paper/pen to keep track of injection location
- Back downstairs to locate sharps container
- Take sharps container upstairs – set on bed
- Can’t reach end table from bed; can’t reach stuff on bed from chair near end table
- Re-arrange everything so it can be reached
The day that I did my first shot, I realized that there must be an easier way. A basic organization principle says keep everything where it will be used:
- toothpaste near the toothbrushes in the bathroom
- plates and silverware in the kitchen
- pen & paper near the telephone
What I need is to keep everything for these shots in my bedroom or bathroom. This presents a problem because the med needs to be refrigerated. I don’t have a refrigerator in either my bathroom or my bedroom. As is customary, my refrigerator is located in the kitchen. Maybe I could get one of those mini-fridges for my room!
Then again, maybe not. Aside from the expense issue, there’s no space to put even a tiny refrigerator up there. Hmmmm….. Maybe it’s not that I need a refrigerator upstairs. Maybe the shot should take place downstairs so I don’t have to run up and down the steps.
Those YouTube videos of people demonstrating how to give an Enbrel shot featured guys wearing shorts. This is so obvious, I can’t believe I overlooked the possibility. I can wear shorts down to the kitchen, do the shot, then return to my room to get dressed.
Storage – since the ‘fridge is in the kitchen, that’s where everything needs to be kept. I made space for the sharps container in my appliance garage (right beside the paraffin bath), and set a package of alcohol wipes on top.
Scheduling – After all my trying to figure out which day would be best, a schedule was imposed on me due to availability of the person who taught me to do the shots. This topic is deserving of its own post, so I won’t elaborate further right now.
Site Rotation – this one is easy. It can be automatic. There are four syringes in a box. Week one, left side of abdomen; week two, right side of abdomen; week three, left thigh; week four, right thigh. If I have trouble remembering, I’ll print some address labels and affix them to the prescription box for easy reference. If I find that this doesn’t work, I’ll figure out a different system.
NOW it’s easy. I can remove the syringe from the refrigerator and set the timer for thirty minutes. Next get out the sharps container and alcohol wipes. It feels easy when I don’t have to traipse all over the house gathering supplies. It looks easier when all the supplies are neatly together instead of spread all across my bedroom.
This makes it simple to get everything ready and simple to clean up when I’m done. I can’t believe how easy it is to give myself a painless shot, toss the used syringe straight into the sharps container, shove the sharps container back into the appliance garage, and throw away the used alcohol swab.
Am I missing anything? Is it really going to be this easy?
∞ itis 
Fun, isn’t it? 🙂
Any injection site reactions?
Sounds like me! I still haven’t figured out where to keep everything. Right now the sharps container is stuffed in my linen closet and the swabs are in an insulated Enbrel travel case with my Methotrexate vials and some syringes – that’s still floating around my apartment looking for a permanent home. The Enbrel is, of course in the fridge. I inject in the dining room, just cause there’s space there to lay everything out and it’s near the fridge…
Oh joy! 🙂 Laurie
You’re so much more organized than I am!
My Enbrel routine goes like this:
1. On Sunday night, head to bed at around 11.
2. Remember I’m supposed to be doing Enbrel and get it out of the fridge.
3. Take it upstairs, set it on my bedside table to warm up and then read for half an hour or so.
4. Once again, remember I’m supposed to be doing Enbrel.
5. Grab an alcohol swab from the drawer in the bedside table.
6. Curl up in bed, swab the thigh (or whatever) and inject.
7. Stick the needle in the sharps container under my desk. (Sometimes this happens right after injecting, and other times it happens later – depending how sleepy I am.)
I am in awe of your ability to organize yourself!
You sound so much like me, making everything so organized and making it all make so much sense that it all feels easier. I’m glad you came up with a plan that seems like it will work well for you!
Sounds like a plan! Everything but my Enbrel is in my bathroom and I have a small dressing table stool next to the bathroom counter, so I can organize everything there. I just take the Enbrel out and take it to the bathroom to warm up. I take my shot right before I go to bed, so it’s easy to make it part of my Wednesday night “ready for bed” routine. I’m still having some injection site rashes, but they’re getting smaller every time. Hopefully they’ll disappear completely before long. Keep us posted on how you’re doing!
I’m very impressed with the organisation. I know I would be up and down about five times and then totally exhausted if I had to do that! Also makes you think about just how much there is to think about with these things. (That wasn’t very well phrased, but I think it made sense!)