Seriously??? Double Pulmonary Embolism

     
Keep calm and fight on....this is my new motto.

So last week at my check-up with my oncologist I was feeling horrible.  I thought I was coming down with a nasty cold.  I was coughing, feeling congested, feeling weak, out of breath, and my pulse was racing.  The doctor checked me out and told me to go home and rest and he put me on antibiotics. He also ordered an echocardiogram for Monday.  But, he made me promise him I would call him if my symptoms got worse.  I promised.  I retreated to my cave (my cozy bedroom) and slept for two days.  I was so tired and felt awful.  Just what you would expect when you are going through chemotherapy and have a cold...right?

     On Saturday I had promised my kids that we could go out to eat and get some frozen yogurt. I really didn't feel good enough, but didn't want to disappoint my kiddos.   So we ate at our favorite local burger joint  Nipps and then decided to grab a few essentials at Walmart before getting frozen yogurt.  We did our shopping and I was feeling really funky.  I was super hot and out of breath and my legs felt like jello.  I had to sit down.  I felt like I was going to pass out.  I didn't think much of this though.  I have started having hot flashes.  This is a normal chemotherapy side effect.  My body is trying to go into menopause. So after I recovered a bit we finished our outing with some delicious frozen yogurt.

     When we got home I was WIPED out.  I sat down in my super cozy recliner and tried to relax.  I had gotten only about 2-3 hours of sleep the night before.  I couldn't sleep the night before (Friday) night because I felt awful, but I also was really anxious & on edge.  I kept worrying that something was seriously wrong with me.  I kept looking up symptoms of heart failure and I had most of them.  I felt like such a hypochondriac.   So as I sat in my recliner I couldn't catch my breath.....even after sitting there for a few hours.  I felt pressure on my chest, like someone was pushing on it.  I also had a nasty cough that was driving me crazy. My legs felt funny....my pulse was racing.   I then told myself that this is how I felt on Wednesday at the doctors and to not freak out....to stay calm.  So I got my laptop out and was going to do a blog post.  As I started typing I felt tingling & numbness in my fingers.......uh oh.  This was new and very worrisome..... this put me over the edge.  Something was wrong....I knew it. I couldn't ignore anymore.  Dang it, I needed to call my doctor.  It was 8:30 on a Saturday night and my doctor told me to go to the emergency room.  Oh fun!

     My doctor called ahead to the er and I was seen immediately.  The doctor examined me and they ordered a bunch of blood tests, a chest x-ray and an EKG.  Everything was normal...no heart failure.  He talked to my oncologist and he said to order a D-dimer blood test. This test detects the presence of a protein produced when a blood clot breaks down somewhere in the body. A negative result is a good indicator that a clot is not present. A positive result suggests that clots may be present, but more testing is needed to confirm.  It was now midnight.  I was sooooo tired and hungry...I had not eaten dinner.  The doctor for some reason gave me the option of going home or waiting an hour for my test results.  He said if the blood test came back positive I would have to come right back for a CT scan.  I had such a massive headache & was so hungry I decided  to leave.  Corey & I went to Shari's Restaurant and pigged out.  As I was gorging myself the doctor called.  I needed to come back and have a CT scan.  Oh great...............

     So we went back to the er and after some confusion at the front desk I was re-admitted.  I had the CT scan.  I had a DOUBLE PULMONARY EMBOLISM.  Seriously??!!??!!??!!??!!???!!??!?  
Pulmonary embolism or PE, is a sudden blockage in a lung artery. The blockage usually is caused by a blood clot that travels to the lung from a vein in the body, usually the leg. 
 I had blockage in both lungs.....CRAZY.  I am soooo happy that I called my doctor. 

For more detailed information on pulmonary embolism click on this link:
http://www.emedicinehealth.com/pulmonary_embolism/article_em.htm#pulmonary_embolism_pe_overview

So I was admitted to the hospital at 4 AM and they started me immediately on Coumadin and Lovenox.  They are both blood thinners.  They do not rid the body of the clots.  My body would get rid of the clots on my own on my body's own time clock.  The medications keep the body from forming new clots or my existing clots from getting larger.  The Coumadin takes awhile to kick in and get the blood levels where they need to be so they would also give me the fast acting Lovenox shots until the Coumadin was at the right level.

I spent the next three days in the hospital.  I had to share a room.  My roommate was CRAZY!!  No, I am serious - she was NUTS. 
- The first two nights she did not sleep at all
- She kept ALL her bright lights on 
- Her TV was usually super loud 
- She drank a cup of tea every 15 minutes and kept bugging the nurses to get her more tea bags, sweet and low, hot water, and milk 
- She talked super loud and laughed/cackled like a witch
- She got up all the time and walked around and bumped into everything dragging her squeaky IV cart with her.
- Her visitors were weird, obnoxious, and loud
- She tried for awhile to talk to me even though I had the divider pulled all the way closed.  She was so dosed up on pain meds that she didn't even make much sense
- The alarms on her IV kept going off 
- Her cell phone would go off all the time at FULL volume
-  She kept hitting the call button on her remote "on accident" thinking she was changing a channel on the TV
I could go on....I feel kinda bad, she was in a lot of pain.  I am a patient person, but OH MY GOODNESS she was ridiculous.  
Anyways, believe it or not I was able to get NO sleep the first night.  The 2nd night she had calmed down a bit and I was able to finally sleep - hooray!!

     On Sunday they tried to find the originating clot in my legs and left arm with an ultrasound.  They did NOT find a clot.  I am a mystery.  I also had an INSANE headache all day.  My lovely nurse kept bringing hot packs for me to put on my forehead...they really helped.  The bright lights from my crazy neighbor - not so much.

Here I am with my heat pack.  I call it my Kamikaze Karate Kid look.  I am also making
my angry face to show my frustration with my crappy health issues.

     On Monday my oncologist came to check on me and TOOK OVER.  I have several doctors in my family who kept telling me that I needed to be on Lovenox, NOT Coumadin.  I was about to tell my oncologist this concern when he proceeded to tell me that he disagreed with the hospital's treatment of my PE.  He told me he wanted me to only be on Lovenox.  The current studies have shown Lovenox to be vastly superior to Coumadin in cancer patients.  I went and read some of the literature and it shows not only do cancer patients on Lovenox have a lower recurrence rate of blood clots, they also have a higher survival rate with their cancer.  The only problem is Lovenox is WAY MORE EXPENSIVE & it is a shot, not a pill (more on that later).  I told my doctor that I was ok with giving myself shots in the belly at home and agreed with the treatment change.  So my oncologist went and "educated" my hospital doctor and "tada" my treatment was changed....no more Coumadin.
On Tuesday we found out that the Lovenox shots would be 2600 bucks a month.  YIKES!  But, this year our insurance changed to a employer paid high deductible insurance plan.  This means that we will have zero out of pocket for all prescriptions.  MIRACLE!  If this had happened last year we would not have been able to pay for this prescription, but now we can.

   Tuesday I had an echocardiogram......results showed that my heart is nice and healthy - no heart failure. After this they decided I could go home.  They showed me how to give myself shots in my belly (yikes...these shots burn) and they SENT ME HOME.  It was so glorious to go home and be welcomed by my mom (she just got her from Utah), my amazing kiddos, some beautiful flowers, and MY BED.

Here I am on the way home from the hospital.
 I was so happy I allowed myself to post a picture of me with no makeup

Now I am sitting here at the cancer center getting my 4th and last treatment of AC.  The doctor said I could delay treatment a week if I didn't feel up to it and I told him NO WAY.  If he felt it was safe then I of course could muster up the energy.  I actually feel much better than I have in awhile.  I still have shortness of breath, fast pulse, and my legs feel like jello......BUT I feel pretty good.  So here is to another infusion of POISON that will KILL all the sneaky cancer cells in my body.  DIE CANCER DIE!!

So I am just going to Keep Calm and Fight On.
I am not happy that I got a pulmonary embolism.  I am not happy that I now am at a higher risk for blood clots.  I am not happy about having to give myself shots in my belly every 12 hours for possibly the next year.  BUT...... I am EXTREMELY grateful and feel blessed that I am ALIVE (seriously people die from this) and able to keep fighting.

Love you all-
The 1BW (the One Boob Wonder)