Aa
Drum roll, please!
Today's the day. Week 144's injection on the clinical drug trial I'm on. This concludes the weekly intermuscular injection portion of this adventure. From here on out, I'm just injecting myself once a month in the stomach, subcutaneously. And I'll know what it is I'm on. No more placebo! (I was never on *just* placebo, I just didn't know which of the drugs was active, which placebo).
Even those who didn't start early enough to finish the full 144 weeks will transfer the the extension by February. In other words, this is the last lap for this drug as far as generating data before the real work to get it onto the market begins (FDA approval, marketing, etc.). Still years off, likely, but very exciting to feel a part of helping an entire new modality be available.
Those 144 weeks have taken me from newly (and quickly/unexpectedly) diagnosed and my first attempts to grapple with a new reality, to today where MS is really just a background process. Sure, it has jack-in-the-box possibilities, but I deal so much better with that uncertainty now.
It has taken me from a newlywed to a happy, stable, can't-call-this-new-anymore wife. And I love it.
It has taken me from working a minimum wage job in the glamourous world of fish and chips to training full-time in an area that will make me a highly skilled part of the modern workforce.
It has taken me from the first few months alone in my bed spending hours a day looking into this disease to someone who is really only in her apartment to eat dinner and sleep and read great books on weekends.
So, today is that final study diary entry. That final 30mm needle. That final loading of the injector.
The last (almost) three years has been quite a ride. This, I won't lie, feels like it has the importance of a graduation. I finished it. That sometimes painful period of growth is over. I remember when it seemed so far off, but I finished it! I feel like throwing my cap in the air, saying schmalzy things to the people I love, looking back and thinking "Oh, the places I'll go!"
Even those who didn't start early enough to finish the full 144 weeks will transfer the the extension by February. In other words, this is the last lap for this drug as far as generating data before the real work to get it onto the market begins (FDA approval, marketing, etc.). Still years off, likely, but very exciting to feel a part of helping an entire new modality be available.
Those 144 weeks have taken me from newly (and quickly/unexpectedly) diagnosed and my first attempts to grapple with a new reality, to today where MS is really just a background process. Sure, it has jack-in-the-box possibilities, but I deal so much better with that uncertainty now.
It has taken me from a newlywed to a happy, stable, can't-call-this-new-anymore wife. And I love it.
It has taken me from working a minimum wage job in the glamourous world of fish and chips to training full-time in an area that will make me a highly skilled part of the modern workforce.
It has taken me from the first few months alone in my bed spending hours a day looking into this disease to someone who is really only in her apartment to eat dinner and sleep and read great books on weekends.
So, today is that final study diary entry. That final 30mm needle. That final loading of the injector.
The last (almost) three years has been quite a ride. This, I won't lie, feels like it has the importance of a graduation. I finished it. That sometimes painful period of growth is over. I remember when it seemed so far off, but I finished it! I feel like throwing my cap in the air, saying schmalzy things to the people I love, looking back and thinking "Oh, the places I'll go!"
Congratulations!! That sounds like a resounding success from all angles : ) how did you get into the study?
Congrats on this momentous occasion, and thanks for contributing to the body of knowledge that will lead to better treatment options for all of us. Sláinte!
Have an Answer?
You are reading content posted in the Multiple Sclerosis Community
Top Neurology Answerers
Australia
ON
Queensland, Australia
Queen Creek, AZ
Find out how beta-blocker eye drops show promising results for acute migraine relief.
In this special Missouri Medicine report, doctors examine advances in diagnosis and treatment of this devastating and costly neurodegenerative disease.
Here are 12 simple – and fun! – ways to boost your brainpower.
Discover some of the causes of dizziness and how to treat it.
Discover the common causes of headaches and how to treat headache pain.
Two of the largest studies on Alzheimer’s have yielded new clues about the disease
