For those on Remicade.....

I've been doing Remi for about 5 years now. I have mine done at the hospital. But I was wondering, what kind of stories can you share of your experiences if you have roommates or fellow chair sitters?

Over my 5 years I have met many different characters. My favorite was sharing a room with a dementia patient. When nurses came in, she was sane as could be - speaking properly, acknowledging everything but when they left I thought I was sharing a room with Sybil. She even tried ordering room service from the nurse call button. Lol But I have also met some awesome and courageous women battling cancer, Lupus and various issues.

I was just wondering what your typical roomie experience was.

Btw, I had my Remi today with an older woman who was getting an iron infusion and her elderly son flirted with me the entire time lol

I used to get my Remicade at my hospital's cancer center. It was just plain sad sitting there with cancer patients getting their chemo. I always counted my blessings that even though UC sucked, I could have had it far worse. I still go there a few times a year for iron infusions.....still really sad and still counting my blessings.

My infusion center has one four-chair room, one two-chair room and several single chair rooms. I prefer a private room, and am usually fortunate enough to get one. In a room with others, I'm invariably fated to suffer from daytime TV, hordes of accompanying relatives and friends, etc. I want to relax and have quiet during my infusion, so that is very unpleasant for me. I whined a bit to the nurses, and now they try to have a private available for me.

#59th infusion today

I get my infusion at my gastroenterologist office. I'm usually sitting with one or two other uc or crohn's patients. Sometimes it's just me and the nurse.

Usually, I ask about how long they've had uc, the treatments they've tried, and what there worst experiences were. Some have said they were stuck 4-5 times with a needle before the IV could be set (my record was 3 and I was ghost white the nurse asked if I was okay lol). Everyone's a bit different, I usually talk with different people each time, so it's always fun to listen and share experiences. Usually we spare no details and get to the true visceral aspect of this awful disease. Like when I tell a story of needing to poop now they totally get it and laugh: my DW saying hold on I'm almost done in the bathroom, and I had to crap in the kitchen trashcan because now means absolutely now with uc urgency

Often the nurses can be as interesting as my fellow uc patients are. One nurse was telling me about how she was once an us air ambulance nurse out of Miami. Essentially, if you're on a vacation cruise line and you get seriously ill or injured, they drop you off at the next port-of-call when you cannot be treated on-board (could be an under developed country without essential medications and questionable procedures). The air ambulance service would fly a doctor and nurse team out to get you, and bring you back to Miami to the hospital via helicopter/plane. One guy had fractured a vertebrate, and in that country was forced to lift himself to use a bedban (had that vertebrate snapped it could have resulted in parallelization...).

I just love the random people that we are thrown together with. Some of them have such great stories to share! I find that unique....something that not many people can understand :)