Just feeling discouraged

The only disability in life is a bad attitude.  ~Scott Hamilton

We went and saw the vascular specialist on Thursday, and he was a really nice, cool, young dude.  We told him we missed the Grand Ole Opry cuz we were stuck in the ER all afternoon on Tuesday.  He said, “Well, what else do you want to do while you’re here?  Want to go to a hockey game?”  We said that would be fun.  So he gets out his iPhone (R.I.P. Steve Jobs), and checks to see if there’s a home hockey game this weekend!  Nope.  He said it’s Disney on Ice this weekend.  We said forget that.  He started looking up other stuff and then told us about a cool bar with good live music where the locals hang out and the celebrities pop in occasionally.  That sounds like fun except we’re definitely not night people.  In fact, I’m usually in bed by 8:00!  Things usually don’t get going on the nightlife scene until 9:00 or so.  Now we’re trying to find a place that might have live music on Sunday afternoon – preferably outside.   That would be more our style.

Back to Dr. Siragusa (vascular guy) – we did get around to talking about the problem at hand.  First we saw the nurse, who was also very nice.  She explained a surgical procedure where they go in and clean out the vein, removing as much of the blood clot as possible.  They only do it if the blood clot is above the knee, however.  It’s also not an outpatient procedure.  You have to be admitted, and it has to be done within 3 weeks.  Needless to say, I wasn’t too excited about any of that.  They wanted to do another ultrasound to see exactly where the clot was before deciding if I was a candidate for that.  The ultrasound showed that the clot started about 4 inches above the knee and extended down below the knee.  Geez!  I’m thinking the blood clot is about the size of my little finger nail, not a foot long!!  The good news was that it was nonocclusive, so the entire vein wasn’t blocked, meaning blood could still flow around it.  Anyway, the bottom line was that I wasn’t a candidate for the surgery (YAY!) because the clot wasn’t far enough above my knee and because the risks outweighed the benefits. 

It turns out that my biggest risk factor was cancer – cancer patients are more susceptible to developing blood clots.  Also, prolonged sitting doesn’t help, which is what I do for my job all day long.  Anyway, Dr. Siragusa said that I should continue the Lovenox injections (which I absolutely HATE; 8 shots down, 12 to go), continue the Coumadin, and wear compression stockings on BOTH legs.  Mind you, I feel like I’m 90 years old wearing compression stockings and taking Coumadin!  The stockings are a real nuisance.  I have a really hard time getting them on and off because of my extremely sore fingernails.  Over time the stockings want to slide down, so I have to go in the bathroom (wherever I am) and pull them up every few hours.  And did I mention that they are THIGH-high stockings??  Oh yes, they are a lot of fun.  I have to wear them all day long, but fortunately I can take them off at night.  And they will REALLY be a lot of fun in the Florida heat and humidity.  Can hardly wait. 

Yesterday we spent the whole day at the campground.  We were so tired from all the running around on Thursday (and the “events” of the week) that we decided to just stay put and relax for the day.  We had to change campsites, which took a little time but wasn’t too bad.  I actually was feeling really depressed all morning Friday – just sick of everything.  I was in full-fledged, “pity party” mode.  So I took an anti-anxiety pill, climbed into my outdoor reclining lounge chair with a pillow and a blanket, and fell asleep for most of the afternoon.  Felt a little better when I woke up.  Felt even better when UPS came and delivered my new Kindle!

Oh yeah!  We were able to get tickets to next Tuesday’s Grand Ole Opry!  Not the same lineup, and the seats aren’t very good, but we’ll see LeAnn Rimes, Trace Adkins, Sara Evans, and some others.  At least we’ll get to see a show!  Our seats are in the last row of the handicapped section, so I can get up and walk around periodically without disturbing too many people…..I think……

Today we went out on a riverboat/showboat cruise on the Cumberland River.  It was a beautiful day and the show was really good.  Unfortunately, we had terrible seats.  When you buy the tickets, you’re assigned a table but not seats (each table has 10 seats).  When we arrived (early) today, they asked if anybody wanted to pay $5 and take a VIP tour of the boat and see the wheelhouse, etc.  They also said we would board 15-20 minutes before everybody else.  We decided it sounded interesting and decided to do it.  The problem was that while we were doing the tour, they let everybody else board.  Although the tour was interesting and worth $5, we ended up with the last 2 seats at the table – with our backs facing the stage!  Yes, we turned our chairs around, but there was a huge lady sitting right in front of us at the next table, and we had very limited views of the stage.  Oh well, it was still a good show. 

Tomorrow we will probably just hang out at the campground unless we can find some live music somewhere in the afternoon.  Monday might be another R&R day, as well as planning the rest of our trip.  I do have to go for blood work on Monday morning, and Dr. Siragusa’s office will call me Monday afternoon with the results to let me know if I have to adjust my Coumadin.  Then I will probably have to get my blood drawn weekly again until they get the dosage right.  Let the fun begin!  AND, I have to watch what I eat with Coumadin – can’t have too much vitamin K – so gotta limit a lot of my favorites – broccoli, spinach, kale, cabbage, most green leafy things, and cranberries.  I can’t remember what else, but it’s not going to be fun.  From what I gather, you’re not supposed to eliminate these things, but you’re not supposed to have too much of them.  I’m still a little confused on that whole issue. 

I wish I could tell you that this is just another little bump in the road on this whole crazy journey, and that it’s no big deal.  I know I will get to that point – where I feel that way – but right now I’m just not dealing with everything so well.  I just really wanted to “get away from it all” on this trip and forget about the medical world and all the crap I’ve been dealing with.  And now this somewhat major obstacle has been tossed in my path, and it just really sucks, to put it mildly.  I keep reminding myself that there are a lot of people a lot worse off than me, so get over it already.  Well, it’s just easier said than done at the moment.  But, like I said, I know I’ll get there; I just need a little attitude adjustment.  I need to quit whining and complaining and just deal with it and move on….. 

You know you’re a cancer patient when….. you see the first pink groceries on the shelf and groan

Before the riverboat cruise in Nashville