I just told our son, Charlton, who is overnighting with us on a trip down from Michigan, that I began the year with spondylolisthesis and will end the year with antiphospholipid syndrome. Try saying that 3 times really fast!
When I saw my hematologist today, that was what he said I have. He said that is what has caused my blood clot. Fortunately, it can be controlled by blood thinners, which I apparently will be taking for the rest of my days. Dr. Gill says he is going to manage this situation for me. He changed my dosage of Warfarin and is getting me an appointment with a vascular surgeon to see if it's possible to remove the current clots.
I really like this new doc so far. He seems very knowledgeable and confident. I trust that he will do the best job possible in helping me deal with this situation.
Please pray for the clots to dissolve quickly or that they can be removed. Also pray that the swelling in my leg totally goes away. I am being told that this is unlikely, but I am going to ask the Lord for it anyway!
Prayers up!
I know. Anyone who has read this blog with any regularity in the past probably thinks I have abandoned it. Well, almost. However, any of you kind enough to read this also deserves an update, especially since I need your continued prayers.
My last post relished the week we spent in Trenton, MI with our son, Charlton, and his precious family of Mary Beth, Kaden, Ashton & Pierson. We had a great time and hated to come home - especially before the trees had a good chance to display their fall magnificence! However, my thougthful daugher-in-law did post the picture above on Face Book for me a couple of weeks after we returned home.
Immediately prior to the trip, I had spent 5 days in the hospital with a blood clot in my lower left leg. With the Coumadin and other drugs, my blood level had gotten to an acceptable level where I could not only be dismissed, but also make the MI trip.
As far as I could tell from the medical people, my leg would continue to swell everyday and I would keep taking the Warfarin (Coumadin equivalent) and eventually my body would dissolve the blood clot and my leg would return to normal size. Apparently wishful thinking on my part.
After my latest sonogram on my leg (last Thursday), I received a call from my primary care doc's nurse and she told me the following: that clots are present just above my knee, behind my knee and in my calf. She said that I can expect to take the Warfarin for the next 6-12 months and that the blood clot will likely change very little, if any. And further that I can expect to continue experiencing the edema (swelling) below the knee as well as develop varicose veins in that same area. Well, that was thoroughly depressing!
I have a really hard time accepting that prognosis. Surely something can be done. I plan to check around and maybe talk to a vascular surgeon for another opinion. I meet with my primary doc on 11/16 and before that, will see the hematologist who ran my blood test in the hospital to see if there is any blood abnormality.
So, I really need your continued prayers! I really don't want to go through the rest of my life with a swollen leg every day as well as suffer the pain of varicose veins. So, please pray for God to resolve this for me - with or without dox! As far as my back is concerned, things are getting slowly better. I was able to stop wearing my bone growth stimulator device this week because I am now at the 6 month mark since my surgery. I still have a lot of numbness in my lower legs and feet and have to be very careful when I walk to avoid stumbling and falling. There is still a significant amount of numbness, tingling and some pain in my left foot, although the burning band of pain that severely inhibited my walking is gone. Thank the good Lord!
Please keep praying for total resolution of my back & leg problems, but also add strong appeals to God to take away my blood clot problems in the left leg. Thanks so much for coming back!
Prayers up!
