The never ending story...

Well I may have to reset the timer. Surgery may get postponed, again! I am starting to get a bit tired of this. My doctor has put me on Coumadin, which is just a trade name for warfarin. Coumadin acts as an anticoagulant. Sounds wonderful doesn't it?

This new twist on my quest to have my spine repaired starts with my appendectomy. Post surgery I had a bruise where the IV was. So naturally I figured it was normal for my arm to be sore in that region. After a week I noticed that my arm was a bit swollen above my elbow and it was quite tender and warm. I went and saw the doctor who figured it was cellulitis and prescribed an antibiotic. When I ran the course of antibiotics the swelling went down and the pain went with it. About a week later I was noticing that the pain was migrating to the lower part of my arm. I was slowly getting warm and inflamed. The final straw was that I could feel the veins in that region, which I could never do before.

I went and saw my family doctor who thought it was phlebitis but sent me for an ultrasound on the 1 in a million chance that I had a blood clot. So apparently I should buy some lottery tickets because I hit the jackpot, I've got a big clot in my arm. Apparently the IV that I had for the surgery has caused it.

So now I get to have injections of innohep which keeps my blood from coagulating until the coumadin kicks in which can take from 3 to 5 days. This round of treatment lasts a minimum of 3 months, and up to 6. As it stands the surgeon will probably not want to operate on me if my blood won't clot. So we may be postponing again. Grrrr.

The one upside is that I have been referred to a thrombosis clinic which may do something called bridging. Basically if my understanding is correct means that they will take care of my blood by weening me off the coumadin long enough to have the surgery then get me back on it and monitor me throughout. Basically they take responsibility for me not bleeding to death. Sounds like so much fun. I don't know how I get all the luck.