chinese hamster ovary cells

I've become a professional procrastinator, especially when it comes to shot night.  My injections happen three times a week - Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday - this way I have the weekends off.  And every STT I manage to find something way more important do to instead of my shot (which by the way, only takes about 5 minutes of my time).  In case my fellow MS'ers want some good ideas on how to keep busy before that not so exciting prick and burn, here's a list of things I do:

• bake; cookies and cakes are usually a win, plus if you make them gluten & dairy free you might feel a bit better about eating them after
• organize your vitamin box for the week
• wash, dry and style your hair; this ones a great time killer for the ladies
• power facial; I feel the need to exfoliate and apply a 20 minute mask every STT, my dermatologist would be so proud
• power nap
• play with a puppy; mine is very energetic and a game of fetch could go on for hours
• research people on Facebook; this is also known as "creeping"
• start a twitter convo with @nickwithMS; because those might last all night
• online shop; you get to avoid the chaos of the mall and you always know where the nearest bathroom is

Now I know it's Tuesday and I just want to let you know that I already did my shot so this is not a way to procrastinate...but now that I think of it, it should be added to the list.

• blog.

Today marked the end of my 11th month on Rebif.  I'd like to thank my insurance company for funding my drug addiction necessity.  Over the past 11 months they have put out enough money to buy me a small vehicle, one with power windows and heated seats!  I am so grateful for them.  Maybe I'll send them a Christmas card this year...

Rebif, aka Interferon beta 1-a, is a disease-modifying therapy.  There are a few different types of therapies out there but I did a lot of research and finally decided on Rebif because it seemed to fit my lifestyle the best.  The idea of these medications is to reduce relapse rate by about one-third.  So far it seems to be working for me!  They are subcutaneous injections and the easiest places I do them are my thighs and stomach.  The medication does have some pretty sour side effects with flu-like symptoms being at the top.  I think I've finally whipped up a good recipe of ibuprofen and sleepy time tea to make that more tolerable.  The red spots at injection site are also another least favourite because they can last for several weeks.  After each injection I usually like to reward myself...which brings me back to today's first point on the list, cookies:

PS this is how they make rebif: purified 166 amino acid glycoprotein produced by recombinant DNA technology using genetically engineered Chinese Hamster Ovary cells into which the human interferon beta gene has been introduced.

That explains my sunflower seed craving..