Counting Sheep Doesn’t Work

I’ve been waking up at ridiculous middle of the night hours after a few hours of sleep. Tonight, though, I’m still awake at 2am without ANY sleep. Yes, I take something prescription to help me sleep but tonight it’s not working. Neither did counting sheep. Okay, cats.

My right leg is spasming from knee to toes, clamping down in waves of pressure and tingling. This happened all the time right after my surgery but lately it hasn’t been around at all. I didn’t miss it and wonder what it means that it’s back. My lower back hurts, too, and my tummy hurts where I’ve been sticking myself with Lovenox.

On the other hand, I did figure out how I can roll over onto my left side, something I’ve been trying to do for almost a year.

… 5:25am. I got 3 hours of sleep and am now sitting with a big ice pack on my lower back. Never sure if it should be heat or ice, but at least I know it feels good. I have pain pills if needed. I’m also dealing with waves of nausea again, which I think are from the Lovenox. Planning to lay low today. Maybe take a nap if I can.

Birthday Cake for Breakfast

Today is my birthday and I had carrot cake for breakfast because, why not? My brother and sister-in-law brought it with them yesterday to celebrate my day a bit early, and there are carrots in it, so it’s healthy. It certainly is tasty. Cecelia gave me the best b’day present ever: a massaging foot bath followed by nail trim and foot massage. Honestly, my feet have been so unhappy (it’s been 3 months since the podiatrist was here and I really can’t cut my own nails because of the neuropathy) that it was the perfect gift. Plus I’m touch deprived and dearly miss regular pedicures and massages. At least I can touch and cuddle the cats, even though they’re not all excited about being cuddled.

For my birthday, I’m buying myself a loveseat for the living room. This was the original plan last year when I moved in but it never happened. Now it’s time. I’ve had a great time looking at furniture online and trying to find something that’s not too big, not too boring, and made of lighter colored fabric that the cats won’t want to immediately claw. They leave soft chenille fabrics alone so that’s what I looked for. I also bought a coffee table from Pottery Barn in wood and metal that will match my shelving unit. Both loveseat and table will give the girls more places to nap and change up the look of the space while still giving me ample room to wheel or walk around. I needed more space for that when I first moved here but I know what I’m doing now. It makes a difference.

My belly is sore from my twice-daily Lovenox shots, and I have lots of purple splotches. I do morning shots on the left and evening on the right to make sure I’m spacing them out properly. The first few days I had waves of nausea that I finally realized were from the shots, and on one walk in the hallway found myself in a cold sweat bad enough that I turned around because I was so shakey. That might have been low blood sugar which usually isn’t a problem. I’m hoping these shots are actually starting to work on the blood clot.

I see the cardiologist on Tuesday for my regular annual exam and will see what he has to say about the clot. But first I need to call the vascular people to have a report of my visit sent to the heart doc so he has all appropriate information. We shouldn’t have to do all of this checking and tracking but I don’t expect the offices to do it on their own anymore. My work experience in dealing with vendor customer service for a zillion different reasons helps enormously but I wish I didn’t need it.

Big, busy weekend

My sophomore college roommate came to visit yesterday, the first time we’ve seen each other since our 20th reunion 25 years ago. She lives in Chattanooga, TN, mother of 3 and grandmother of 10, and a retired nurse practitioner. Fifty years ago we sang together as freshmen in a group called The Master Key at the Baptist Student Union, and we were sorority sisters, too. We’ve stayed in touch with Christmas letters and occasional mid-year contact, but even so, we were able to pick up almost as though we talked every day, and it was wonderful. We stayed up and talked and talked last night, looking up people we remembered but weren’t quite sure about surnames. C’mon, it’s been a very long time. We were lucky to remember first names.

This morning we did two big things that were connected – for the first time in almost a year, I got in and out of a car and went to church. Carol cared for her father in his last years and he was also in a wheelchair with legs he couldn’t move. With that and her nursing background, she was the perfect person to help me navigate getting from the wheelchair to the front seat of the car. Fortunately for me, she was driving a Toyota Corollo, not an SUV, and the seat actually felt very low but at least I could get into it. Then we did it in reverse at the church giving me a chance to be in church for the first time in a year. It was wonderful and soul nourishing, and I was especially glad I was able to see Fr. Matt before he leaves Tyler for a new rectorship in Autin.

So now I know I can do it. SUV’s are probably still too tall for me to try and get into – I had enough trouble doing that when my legs were working properly. But if someone has a car instead, I think I can get into it with help. Not to mention dealing with the wheelchair, which fortunately is very lightweight. We just need to have a nice large trunk for it. I’m hoping I’ll be able to get out for some other activities soon.

I cooked for the visit, making a big pot of meat sauce in the crockpot with Italian sausage, ground beef, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and garlic, tossing in some egg noodles to cook in the sauce the last 30 minutes. We had salads from the dining room and fresh fruit with vanilla bean ice cream for dessert. This morning we had my famous sour cream coffee cake with fresh fruit. Best part is that I have lots of leftovers, which will be wonderful. I really enjoy cooking and rarely do it now that I have a dining room for daily meals, so I was glad to have a reason to do it, and to have a chance to show myself that I can still do things I used to do all the time.

Let’s Do Another Ultrasound

Today’s doctor visit was to Vascular Specialists of East Texas and included another ultrasound of the right leg with lots of waiting in between things. First the doctor told me that the DVT found in last week’s scan wasn’t in the foot at all, it was in the thigh. Oh. Wondering how last week’s doctor decided that it was. Doing the scan involves needing help to take off my pants, shoe, and compression socks as well as help getting my legs up on the table. Then it hurts when they push the probe deep into the leg – but that I expected.

Today’s ultrasound showed what’s called a non-occluded chronic thrombus in the thigh, on both sides of the femoral vein. The passage is narrowed and, although blood can pass through, some is pooling in the calf, making it swell up. No wonder diuretics were not helping; water retention wasn’t the problem.

I’ve been on Xarelto for a week but today learned that they were taking me off of it and putting me on Lovenox, which is an anti-coagulent that is injected into the stomach. In my case, twice a day, because of my size. Lovenox can be dosed based on weight for maximum effectiveness. I had daily shots of it for two months while in rehab. I don’t like giving myself the shots but understand why I have to do them. I just wish I could get a refund on the $356 I spent on Xarelto last week.

I go back in a month for another ultrasound to see what’s happening with the clot. Or DVT. I’m not completely sure if what I have still is a DVT or if it’s something else. But whatever it is, it’s serious and I’m paying attention.

Today’s updates

Just got back from my first longish walk in two weeks (before the sprained ankle). I spent two days this week walking around the apartment with the walker, but today I went out into the hall, down to the elevators, and back again. It wasn’t as easy as it was two weeks ago but I only needed a few very short standing rest stops on the way back. I probably should have stopped at the fire doors instead of going all the way to the end of the hall but I’m not sorry I did what I did. But I’m also not going back out to walk the other half of the hall today, either.

Second, I’m seeing yet another doctor on Friday, a vascular specialist. They’ll probably do another ultrasound (of course) or two so they can check out the other leg as well. I’m actually glad for the referral since the right leg has been swollen and heavy for so long. I’m hoping the specialist will figure out what’s going on and come up with a plan to treat it.

I asked the office to email the registration forms so I could work on them at home. Being me, I converted them to fillable PDF forms so I could just type the answers instead of trying to write really tiny letters to fit in the too-short spaces. Bet they’ll be surprised when they get them.

Image credit: Photo 18832936 / Vascular © Qiming Yao | Dreamstime.com