***I feel like this post needs a disclaimer. It is very long and was written over the span of 3 days. Click back now if you’re not feeling it! There, you’ve been warned 🙂 ***
I’ve seen a few people post on social media pictures of themselves getting iron infusions lately. I’ve also had quite a few people reach out to me and ask questions about Hashimoto’s (either for themselves or a friend/relative). I try to give as many details as possible. And, I have no shame so embarrassing details are always included! I went back to the endocrinologist the week of Thanksgiving and he said all of my thyroid levels looked good. He did not need to adjust my medication! Instead of sending me on my happy way, he said I have IDA (iron deficiency anemia) and referred me to a hematologist. I went to see the hematologist on December 16th and he said my iron was severely depleted and I needed an iron infusion. He said iron pills and/or eating iron rich foods would not bring my iron level up quick enough. We scheduled the infusion for Monday morning (12/23) but then his office called a couple days later and rescheduled it for the day after Christmas. The nurse who called said they didn’t want to ruin anyone’s Christmas, so they were rescheduling all of their Monday appointments. My new appointment was scheduled for Thursday afternoon (12/26). I googled how to prepare but didn’t find much information. This is the reason why this post is so long. I decided to document everything from the beginning to the end. I packed a bag with a blanket, book, magazines and some snacks.
Thursday
When I arrived at the center, they put me in the infusion room. There were 6 people receiving chemotherapy. I felt incredibly guilty for taking up a seat just to get iron. I instantly remembered going with Mama Jack (my mom’s mom) to get her chemotherapy. I was a senior in high school and used to skip school to take her for her treatments. Some of my best memories are of us in that chemo room. Everyone was so nice and just loved her! Anyways, they sat me in a chair next to the nurses desk so they could keep an eye on me. The nurse explained all the things I would be getting in my IV. As she was talking, she looked at my hand a couple of times and asked if I ever had trouble with getting blood drawn. I laughed and said “Yes, every. single. time.” She proceeded with the IV set up and blew out the first vein in my hand. At this point, Mike (my husband) excused himself to the restroom to keep from passing out. She waited a few minutes and then reinserted the IV in a different vein. She had to wiggle the needle a little and then it began to work. The first thing they gave me was dexosomething and then they gave me Benadryl and a steroid and something to help protect my stomach at 11:30. After all that, they gave me a test dose of the iron around 12:30 and waited to see if I would have a reaction. I have never responded well to any type of medication. For whatever reason, my body tends to over absorb anything and everything (especially alcohol!). 
No reaction (whew!) so they waited 30 minutes and started the big bag of iron at 1:10. The Benadryl kicked in and I fell asleep for a little bit. I read my magazines and part of my book. I don’t do well at sitting still and kept moving around in my chair. At one point, a nurse nicely asked me to sit still and said moving won’t make the iron pump faster. Like an annoying child, I asked to go to the bathroom a few times just to move freely.
Four hours later, they unhooked everything, checked me out and sent me home at 5:22. They said the steroid would give me a false sense of energy for a day or two followed by a couple days of flu like symptoms and then the fatigue would come back until the iron kicked in which will take a few weeks.
I was starving by the time we left so we picked up dinner and headed home. When we got home, Mackenzie told us she took all the ornaments off the Christmas tree to help out. We ate dinner and continued to take down the rest of our Christmas decorations and get our house back to normal. Then the kids went to get ice cream. I unpacked my bag and felt wide awake. Not super energized, but wide awake! We later binge watched the entire final season of Fuller House and listened to an hour long podcast.
Friday
I outlasted the boys. They fell asleep around 1:30 A.M. after the podcast was over, so I went into Mackenzie’s room and watched a couple movies with her until she fell asleep at 4:00 A.M. I spent the rest of the early morning hours creating a new budget based on the Dave Ramsey plan I found online, did a workout dvd, got back online and spent my Kohl’s cash on a new comforter for my bedroom, downgraded my DirecTV plan (thanks for the tip Dave Ramsey!) and then called DirecTV to find out how to return one of our boxes that we are no longer using. After Mike woke up around 9:00, I got dressed and headed out to run some errands. I went to the bank, got gas, went to the mall and bought 13 personalized Christmas ornaments to replace ones that have been lost or broken over the years. I also bought some make up with one of my gift cards and went to the UPS store and then placed an online grocery order. As the day went on, I felt fine. The only thing I noticed was that I was slowly bloating to the point of having to take off my ring and socks. Watching my ankles and wrists disappear was very sad and uncomfortable. I grew another chin and felt my jeans getting tighter and tighter. The fact that my period is supposed to start today isn’t helping. The nurse told me yesterday that I would swell up pretty good due to the amount of crap that was pumped into me yesterday. She wasn’t kidding! Around 5:00 P.M., the steroids wore off and the truck hit. I felt stiffness all over. My skin was sensitive to touch. I felt tingly all over and wanted to sleep for days. My house was full of giggling teenagers playing Jake’s VR games in the living room. I made them pizza, paid the bug guy who showed up during dinner and went to my room and laid down and watched TV. Mackenzie went out with her friends and the boys went to the Void. I was able to go to bed at 8:30 and crashed.
Saturday
I woke up a little after 9:00 and felt groggy and stiff from sleeping so long. I spent the day catching up on TV shows. All in all, I felt fine. I’m scheduled to go back to the hematologist in March for more blood work. Hopefully the infusion holds and I have enough iron in my system not to need another one!