This, Too, Shall Pass

Remember how I was saying I need a new mattress? Well, that's still the case, but that's not what was causing my severe back pain. Turns out, I had blood clots in my lungs! Last Wednesday, the pain was getting worse and worse. I got home from work and couldn't catch my breath. The pain started to move to the front and just kept getting worse. We called my Home Health Nurse and she suggested we go to the ER just in case. So we did. After a CT Scan, they found the clots and put me on blood thinners. And so I spent the next week in the hospital! This time was even more boring than the first, after the incredible pain started to back off. Though the pain continued to recur, the severity was never as bad as that first night. Mostly, I just had to sit in my hospital bed and wait for my blood to thin. The down side of all that sitting is that I developed some fluid on my lungs. That is also causing some pain. They decided not to drain it, but to see if it would clear up on its own. That's because they would have to take me off the blood thinners to drain it, then drain the fluid, then get back on the blood thinners and get my blood regulated. That would be another week in the hospital. I voted against that and the lung doctor agreed for now. However, if they don't clear up on their own, I may have to go back in and have them drained. Fun stuff!

So, that's been my week. I'll be working from home this week and probably next, since that's when I have my first visit with my oncologist. That visit will set my chemo schedule.

On a more serious note, today Leah's sister, Gretchen, suffered a brain aneurysm while walking with her youngest daughter. They found it early and it's on the surface. She is in surgery this evening. Please keep Gretchen and her family in your thoughts and prayers.