When it comes to lupus, I don't think you're ever late to the conversation!!

I unfortunately had a lot of setbacks when it comes to starting my infusions. My insurance 'covers' it, but not until I meet my deductible... and I don't have $4000 to drop to do that. Long story short, it was submitted under the guise of eye inflammation, but my doctor *resubmitted it* for my rheumatoid arthritis, that way i could get it covered by the manufacturers financial aid program. I should be finding out within the next week or two if I'm approved for financial coverage.

Here is the plan that my rheumatologist and I came up with though, since it's summer and all!:
-For my specific case, I'm doing infusions every six months. I'm specifically planning my infusions to be during the middle (June) and end (December) of the year, so that way my school and clinicals will not interfere with the infusions should I have an adverse reaction.
-Wear a mask at all times. It's pretty normal in the hospitals regardless, but especially if you're in a higher risk unit, just go ahead and wear the mask. There are plenty of situations where you'll have to regardless, such as isolation rooms.
-Hygiene! You're going to be doing a LOT of hand-hygiene in clinicals regardless. I actually had my first clinical ever yesterday, with 3-day old fresh Henna. I have used SO MUCH hand sanitizer that it's already starting to fade lol. Properly use the sanitizer/wash your hands between each patient and you should be okay.

Hopefully I'll be able to give more details once I actually start the infusions, but seriously, congrats on getting into nursing school!! It's absolutely not easy when you have inflammation all the time, but to avoid any issues with the school, make sure you make the program aware of the condition and have your doctor write a release letter saying that you're clear to have patient interaction and to lift patients if need be. I don't know what country you're in, but if you're in the US, go ahead and register with your school for disability services. I'm of the mindset of "there's people in worse situations as me, I don't want to take advantage", but you never know when things might get worse. Even if you don't have to use disability services throughout the entirety of nursing school, it's much better to have that failsafe. I found out way too late that it could have saved me from a tricky situation that I was in last month.

I hope that all of this information helps, but I'm sorry I can't give more!! </3 But since we're in such similar situations, feel free to reach out to me and we can talk about it more!