blood thinners

180 Needles later

Advanced Prostate Cancer, blood thinners, David Emerson, disc golf, Lovenox, PCa -

This morning was a good morning, I gave myself my last injection of Lovenox! (see this post http://flhw.ddmpreview.com/im-not-lovenox/)
Six months of daily injections are over, woo-hoo!! Now it’s just a daily baby aspirin to control clotting.
The mention of baby asprin reminds me of when I was young and one of my brothers liked those orange Johnson’s Baby aspirin so much, he ate the whole bottle. I bet the thought of the stomach pumping that followed still gives him chills!
Four years ago today I sat at work and wrote how frightened I was about the results of the biopsy I had experienced the day before. As it turned out, I had good reason to be concerned. Those thoughts, that fear, feels like it is from another life, one that I no longer lead. Not that I am naïve about the road ahead, but dwelling on the negative does no good.

Spring is going to tease us once again for the next few days with temperatures climbing well into the sixties. If the wind cooperates, we’ll be spending a lot of time outside both in the yard and playing, what else!

The needles go on, and on, and…

Advanced Prostate Cancer, blood thinners, David Emerson, INR, Lovenox, Wafarin -

My Oncologist’s Physician’s Assistant called yesterday afternoon with the results of Monday’s blood test.
When it was her, I knew it wasn’t good, as the nurse usually calls.
After increasing the blood thinner dosage to 12.5mg three days a week and 10mg the other four, she had the results. My INR was DOWN from 1.8 to 1.5! WHAT?!!!
She had spoken with Dr. V and he was concerned that perhaps the study drug (Atrasentan) was interfering with the INR number. The short story is this, I could increase the Wafarin yet again, or just suck it up and use the Lovenox exclusively (Lovenox is the thinner I have been self injecting since the clot was discovered in early August).
The choice was easy. I was already getting a little concerned about the large amounts of Wafarin I was taking and going to 12.5mg a day, everyday was not a guarantee that my INR number would ever get to 2.0.
So, just like every morning for the past seven weeks, I got up this morning and stabbed myself in the belly. I’m already bruised from side to side. I can’t imagine how my stomach will look after four more months of this daily ritual!
OK, so the whining about this is over…it’s just another bump in the road!

Hair today….gone tomorrow?

Advanced Prostate Cancer, blood thinners, Coumadin, David Emerson, DVT, Lovenox, PCa -

First, I’m going public with this a little early: my hair is at best ‘thinning’ at worst I’m losing it.
It started last week at some point. I noticed more than normal on my towel and then Tuesday morning Mary said my pillow was covered in hair. It has not started coming out in clumps (that will result in me immediately shaving my head) for now, we’re going with the description of ‘thinning’.
On another note, the Lovenox shots will only have to continue for another two weeks or so. I just talked to Dr. V’s assistant and I will start taking Coumadin (an oral or pill form of blood thinner) tonight. It might take a few weeks to get the dosage correct, so I will have to keep taking Lovenox at the same time.
I slept very little, three hours on Monday night however last night I was out for seven uninterrupted hours. That was a first in weeks, perhaps months!