Off to a Rough Start

The last time I updated I said I had some pain, but was managing through. However, the pain was in my upper right shoulder and got progressively worse as the week went on, so bad it hurt to move. By Friday night, I had a fever of 101.3 degrees, called the oncologist and asked him what he thought was wrong. The guess was that one of the chemo shots I get can cause bone pain.

However, by Saturday morning the pain was unbearable and I was in tears. My right arm was swollen and red, and was hotter to the touch than my left arm. We went to the emergency room at Piedmont Hospital at 2 p.m. After a battery of tests, they found a blood clot on the right side of my neck. I was sent to a room in the hospital by 8 p.m. and have been here since.

They couldn’t get my port to pull blood until yesterday, so it was a relief to learn that we can continue to use this port and we would not have to do another port surgery.

Good news is the port is working, my fever has come down and all my blood count levels have returned to normal as of this morning. I will be discharged from the hospital tonight, but I am going to have to be blood thinners through chemo now. I will be able to take the blood thinner medicine through pills for the most part, but until this blood clot dissipates, I will have to take 2 times daily blood thinner shots for the next 14 days. Right now, we are working out the issues with home health care and insurance. I think between my dad and a friend who is a nurse, we can get these shots administered for the next 14 days at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. each day. I am still in considerable pain being managed through pain pills every four hours.

Needless to say, I did not get off to a good start on my treatment plan. The past 48 hours I have been in unbearable pain. I’m feeling better today, but moving is still difficult. When your body’s core is weak, it can be hard to move around.

I will work from home the rest of the week starting tomorrow and my doctor wants to continue on my treatment plan so I will be getting chemo this Thursday as scheduled. I’m not rested and really not up for it, but I have to get better.

I’m still not up for phone calls or visitors as I still need to heal. Respond to this thread or via a FB message, but after I type this, I’m logging off the computer to rest and won’t be on it until tomorrow.

I wanted you to know why I’ve been MIA for several days now, but it has be a rough go of it the past three days.

Thanks for your love and concern,
Marcy