The morning after infliximab (Remicade®)

I am always quite tired after my infliximab (Remicade®) infusions, but I am particularly wiped out this time. I don’t think it’s anything to do with the drug – although the extra steroid and anti-histamine might have done something – I think it was going to a different hospital and having to cope with a language I don’t speak very well.

All in all I think I did rather well. I was really nervous beforehand, but the day itself went smoothly. And I now know how it all works and I know that every 8 weeks my French will have improved.

It’s one of those things – if only I had the level of French I will have at the end of the trip now, so I can sort out all these difficult tasks with my healthcare. I would probably cope quite well at the end of the year – when I know how everything works – with the level of French I have now.

I had wondered how different the actual procedure would be compared with the UK. There were some big differences like having my own room, having the anti-allergy cocktail beforehand and actually being seen by doctors.

There were smaller things like getter fed - a particular bug-bear for a fellow infliximab patient I know in the UK - and having a decent cannula in my arm - my bug-bear, if you hadn’t noticed.

In the UK I have got to know the unit staff and, even though I sometimes feel like an extra in M*A*S*H, I have a good experience and feel safe, despite the chaos and $0.01 cannulas made by prison labour in China.

My experience yesterday was on a different level. It was what you’d hope for and, I guess, what I am becoming to expect from the French health system – efficient care where the patient’s health is the only consideration.