BBQ Sauce... A Multiple Sclerosis Tale

Hola,

Soooo, the title needs clarification, so here's the full story.

One of the many medications I have taken throughout the years for my Multiple Sclerosis is Solu Medrol.  Thats fancy talk for an powerful IV steroid drip.  I have been on it a few times since my diagnosis on an average of once every 2 years.  It will usually come with a prednizone chaser, and is meant to suppress the immune system from attacking the myelin sheath so the body can do some healing.

Now you would think that after all of those steroids, you would think I could hit a home run out of any ballpark, but no such luck.  Blegh!

Sometime in the future I will do an entire post dedicated to Solu Medrol, but to make a long story short, I am forced to be hooked up to an IV for 5 hours a day over 5 days.  During that time, since my immune system is completely shot, I am quarantined to the house.  Needless to say, I get a touch of cabin fever.

The first time I took these steroids, I was forced to have a chaperone the entire time.  By day 4, I was going out of my mind; and my sister drew the short straw and had to babysit me.  Now, this was the summer between undergrad and graduate school, so I had nothing pertinent to do.  Most people would watch TV or movies, played video games, start reading or even writing a book... but not me.  I decided this was the perfect time to make BBQ sauce.

I had never made BBQ sauce before, so I looked up recipes that morning, and started cooking away.  Mind you, I decided to start this as I was knee deep in treatment, with an IV stuck in my wrist.

There I was, running around, cutting onions, pouring sauces, mixing spices, and dragging my IV bag around the kitchen.  The entire time, Jaime is telling me that I should just sit and relax, and wait 2 days to make my completely unnecessary BBQ sauce.  But I'm good a stubborn; until about 20 minutes later, when I hear Jai tell me, in a very calm voice: "Adam, please sit down."

I brushed off the comment and mumbled something about being done in a few minutes and that I was doing fine.  Jaime got a little more stern: "Adam, SIT DOWN."  I look at her, confused, until she tells me to look at my IV.

All the running around caused me to back up into the IV bag.

I began to panic.

We began to call everyone and anyone we could think to call, until we finally got through to a nurse.  There was a simple simple solution, but the moral of the story is if you are hooked up to an IV, don't make BBQ sauce.  I know that will be, not only a useful piece of advice, but one that will stick with you for quite some time.

In summation, if you have the chance, nay the orders, to rest: THEN REST!

Thanks,
Adam