The Grand Ole Opry......

There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.  - Phyllis Battome

Well, today’s blog was supposed to be about how fabulous the Grand Ole Opry was last night.  I couldn’t wait to tell you how awesome it was to see and hear Carrie Underwood, Randy Travis, and Josh Turner (and the other stars, too).  HOWEVER, we never made it to the Grand Ole Opry. You know the leg pain I was telling you about in my last post?  Well, it wasn’t going away, so I figured I’d better call my onco’s office and the lymphedema therapist that I went to back in March to see what they suggested.  Dr. Sprawls was on vacation, but the oncology nurse got in touch with the nurse practitioner and then called me back.  She said it would be highly unusual to have lymphedema in my leg unless I had lymph nodes removed from my groin.  She said it sounded like I could have a blood clot and I needed to get to an ER ASAP.  Oh man!  When it rains, it pours!  We noticed there was a hospital about 10 minutes from the campground, but I had to call my insurance company first and make sure they were in my network.  They were!  So off we went to the ER.  As soon as I mentioned possible blood clot, they had me back in a room in about 3 minutes.  They were so efficient, and everyone was SOOO nice.  And I was sure to tell everyone that “ this CAN’T be serious because we have tickets to the Grand Ole Opry tonight,” and I told them who the lineup was.  They all said they’d do their best to get us there……and they were all joking around that they would take our tickets if we couldn’t make it.  Long story short – I had an ultrasound, and sure enough, I have a DVT (deep vein thrombosis)/blood clot in my right leg.  Wonderful news, eh?  Well, by the time radiology read the ultrasound, the ER doctor came and told us the news, the various nurses gave us all the instructions, they called various pharmacies to see where we could get the drugs, etc. etc., it was just too late to rush home, change our clothes, let the dogs out, and make it to the show.  Not to mention, we were pretty exhausted from the 5 hours spent in the ER.  So I simply sat in the ER and cried…..for a few minutes.  We had been looking forward to that show for SOOOO long, and it was such a huge disappointment to not be able to go.  We did call the Opry, and they did say they would refund our money under the circumstances.  Oh, I forgot to mention that the ER doctor said we could go to the show if I promised to get up every 15 minutes and walk around.  Now how do you think the people around us would like that??!!  Anyway, we’re still hoping we might be able to catch anotherwhile we’re here.  But I have to see a vascular surgeon tomorrow, so I’ll see what he says.  If I still have to get up every 15 minutes, I doubt we’ll do it.  We’ll see. 

To continue with this wonderful medical saga, I now have to give myself an injection (into the belly) of Lovenox every 12 hours (I’m letting Kenny do the honors – he did a good job at 0500 this morning – and what a trooper to get up at that hour to stick a needle in his wife’s belly), take Coumadin once a day, wear a compression stocking 24/7, and who knows what else I’ll find out tomorrow?!  The injections BURN LIKE HELL for about 5 minutes.  AND they almost cost me $375 for a 3-day supply!  (I have to do it for 10 days).  And don’t get me started on Big Pharma.  I can really get on a soap box with that!  Somehow the nurse got me on an assistance program, and it didn’t cost me anything.  Thank God! 

So much for getting away from doctors and “all that crap” for a little R&R!  We’re keeping our fingers crossed that the vascular guy doesn’t tell us tomorrow that we have to cut our trip short and head home and establish with a vascular guy there.  Now THAT would be a huge bummer!  But the ER doctor mentioned it as a possibility.  And I’m sure I’m going to have to have blood work at least weekly again and have the Coumadin adjusted accordingly, etc. etc.  Blah, blah, blah…..  In all honesty, I’m just really sick and tired of all this and just want to have some fun.  I’m hoping that’s imminent. 

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the “icing on the cake” yesterday.  When I finally climbed into bed at 1930 to read my Kindle (a great book called “Thunder Dog”), I discovered my Kindle was BROKEN!  The screen was all messed up and just full of lines and weird characters.  I was absolultely beside myself.  Just couldn’t take any more.  I really just wanted to relax with a good book.  I said “screw it” and took a sleeping pill and went to sleep instead.  I called Amazon today, and my Kindle is still under warranty and they will ship me a new one right away – I’ll have it Friday.  Yay!  Some good news! 

I AM sitting outside by the lake right now, enjoying a beautiful day, so it’s not ALL bad.

The picture below was taken the day we did the backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry.  Forgot to put it in with the other pictures the other day.  (Kenny is pretending to sing – not yawning…..)

You know you’re a cancer patient…….when your life is unpredictable (and you used to love being spontaneous)! 

On the backstage tour of the Grand Ole Opry