Back on track

I am starting to feel better again, since the blood clot. It took it's toll on me mentally and physically. The swelling in my arm is finally gone. For the most part the pain has resolved as well. I have some tenderness in the upper part of my arm and the vein that my last IV was in (that became infected) is still rock hard and tender to the touch. I am still limiting what I do with my arm, however I feel my doc. will says it is o.k. to use it as long as it does not hurt when I see him next (this coming Friday). It has been tough mentally because I was feeling so much better just before it happened. The pain in my ribs has all but resolved. It takes a pretty hard sneeze (which i have been doing a lot of lately) to feel any pain. I have been able to sleep lying down, walk for exercise, put my socks and shoes on without thinking about it. The day before I was diagnosed with the clot I was talking to a friend of mine he asked how I was feeling. He said you sound so much better then I had in some time. This is someone I talk to almost every day. My response to him was that " I feel better then I have since I first broke my ribs last November. I think I will have a pretty normal life for the next few months, until I go to California for my treatment. I think I will be able to get back to the gym start stretching again, swim at the beach and maybe even do some hiking." I had not expected to feel that good, maybe again. Or at least until after my radiation, heavy chemo and transplant later this year. So you can imagine feeling bad and having pain for so many months, then finally feeling better, much better, normal even and the next day reality pulls the rug out from under your feet and puts a clot in your arm. That can really bumb you out. So it is not the clot it self that bothered me, but what it meant. If I obtained a clot on Aspirin as my anti-coagulation drug I would have to take something much stronger. And with Coumadin comes it's own risk and side effects. It is a very effective blood thinner, but it is strong and when on coumadin you have to be a little more careful of what you are doing and of your surroundings then you do on Aspirin. On top of that I had to give myself shots of Lovenox twice a day (in the stomach) for almost 2 weeks until the Coumadin started to work and my blood levels became therapeutic. So now that I have recovered from life's most recent swift kick to my balls we are moving forward.

The bright side. My pain. It is better. Regardless of the clot and blood thinners. I have been able to walk around the park for exercise. I even tried to jog yesterday. I could literally only jog 100 yards before I had to walk again. Sad but I was glad to do that, and do that without pain. Hopefully by next week I will be able to swim around the ocean a little.

I still do not have the results of my last protein levels. The evil guys that are trying to eat away my bones and attack my body. I feel they are going to be dramatically lower. The reason is my pain. The pain I was having in my ribs was from the lesion the proteins caused. They eat away the bone causing the lesions. Since my pain has resolved, the chemo must be keeping up the good fight which in turn gives my body (ribs) a chance to heal. If the proteins were still causing havoc my ribs would not be able to repair themselves. Pretty good if you ask me.

I finished my second month of Chemo today. So I will be off the medication for the next week. Last time I was off the chemo I felt so much better. I did not realize that I felt that crappy while I was on the meds, until I was off of them. On a daily basis I fell normal. Normal just happens to equal crappy. It is amazing what you can get used to. Aches, pain, being tired with no energy... if it is a daily thing you don't think of it.. you wake up and go about your day. So needless to say I am looking forward to the upcoming week.

I hope everyone has been having a nice summer. I hope everyone is doing well. Take care, don't forget to take some time and relax, enjoy what is important to you. Scott Pic: Lake Labarge, Yukon Territory, Canada.