PTD 272…Wednesday, 5/28/08 May 29, 2008
Posted by peanut in Regular News.add a comment
It has been a hectic week. Wednesday I had the procedure done at Duke hospital to fix the compression fracture in the T-5 area of my back. It went well, and I was home by 6pm. The pain that I had is mostly gone. Now I have muscular pain from the needles, position I had to be in, etc. The doctor said it will take between 7-10 days till everything settles down. I am not supposed to lift anything over 5 pounds for a month. I’ll have to see if my neighbor will mow my lawn in a couple weeks. I just did the lawn on Sunday.
I had to have this surgery before I start the anticoagulant therapy for the blood clot in the abdomen, portal vein to the liver. That starts next Thursday.
Have a good weekend. I’ll be taking it easy for the next month.
PTD 267- Friday 5/23/08 May 23, 2008
Posted by peanut in Regular News.1 comment so far
hI,
Well, had my regular clinic appointment yesterday. I had a PET/CT scan, Blood work and chest xray also. They found a compression fracture in my back on the chest xray, that explains the chest/back pain. The radiology department paged the doctor right away. My doctor was not pleased that he still does not have a report of the bone density scan I had 2 weeks ago. He was going to track that down.
My blood work overall was ok. Blood sugar high, but had to take alot of prednisone to prep for the contrast dye in pet/ct scan. Waiting for the IGG levels. WBC, HH, and platelet count were good.
Doctor will put off the bone marrow biopsy for another month and/or this back problem straightenes out.
I am now taking Os-Cal +D three times a day and have finally been put on a pain killer every 6 hours if needed. Looks like osteoporosis and long term steriod treatment has led to this compression fracture.
I just got off the phone with my PA. Good news on the pet/ct scan…no evidence of disease. The IGG level(immunity) has gone up also.
Bad news is that they still have no report for the bone density scan and are waiting for that to discuss options with the orthopedic doctor.
The pet/ct scan did show that the clot situation has gotten bigger and is located down by the liver. She said that I will most likely have to give myself a shot of Lovanox. This is supposed to keep the clot from growing any further. I asked about the chances of this clot formation moving and she didn’t think it was likely. We really don’t have all the test results back for seeing the whole situation.
When I go back to the doctor in 2 weeks I am set up to get an IV infusion of Zometa (I think that’s the name). I will get it once a year and it will help strengthen the bones.
So, that’s the update for now.
Hope you all have a great holiday weekend. Take care.
Update for 5/9/08 May 9, 2008
Posted by peanut in Regular News.1 comment so far
I just got a call back from the PA. The stress test report said they did not get the heart rate up to what they wanted, but basically it did not look like an issue with the heart itself. This test is not really the one to help detect clots and/or vessels narrowing. Dr. Long has contacted the vascular doctors and they have not returned his calls. He will check to see if there is another test they can do. I’ve already had a venogram when they couldn’t get the chest catheter in for the transplant after two tries.
I’ll keep you posted.
TGIF PTD 253 5/9/08 May 9, 2008
Posted by peanut in Regular News.add a comment
Hello,
Well, I spent all day yesterday at Duke. I had blood work drawn and all was okay, except the blood sugar level is still running high. I’m still monitoring that at home.
I had the bone density scan also and that will take a week or two for final results. I don’t expect any abnormal results.
I also had a stress echocardiogram to try and eliminate reasons for the sob and chest/back pain. Those results were to be available by today. I put a call in to my PA this am, and am still waiting for results.
I return to clinic on 5/22 for more blood work( including the IGG level), chest xray, PET/CT scan and doctor visit. Another full day at Duke.
No change in meds. So, I’ll keep you posted when I hear something back from the docs.