A Life of Words

Hello, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I’ve been seeing my younger friends’ back-to-school photos on Facebook and trying to figure out where summer went. Since our kiddos are now 23 and on the doorstep of 20, we have college classes ahead for both — the oldest continuing at Tarrant County College and the youngest starting with online courses at Dallas College.

But the main reason for this post — in addition to sharing the peekaboo pic of our 12-year-old kitty Teena’s tail that I snapped today — is to give you an update on my health. Many of you have asked/wondered what’s been going on with my pulmonary embolism, and I sincerely appreciate your care and concern.

I’ve been on blood thinners since the PE was diagnosed in a CT scan July 26. Contrary to what I wrote back then, anticoagulants (I’m on Xarelto) don’t dissolve existing clots — they only keep them from growing and prevent new ones from forming. It’s up to our bodies to do the work of getting rid of any clots that are already in our veins/arteries.

Despite how serious the CT report sounded, for the past couple of weeks I really haven’t felt bad or had any serious bouts of breathing difficulties, chest discomfort or anything else. That’s surprising to Kay and me — but welcome as heck.

Last week I went to see my hematologist — the doctor who treated me for the deep vein thrombosis clot in my right leg 4 years ago. He wanted me to have an ultrasound on both legs to see if there’s a clot responsible for my PE — which, logically, there should be, since that’s how PEs form, from a piece of a clot in the legs breaking off and going to the lungs, heart or even brain. He also said that in 3 months, I’ll have another CT scan on my lungs to check if the PE has cleared up (it can take weeks or months). Also, when I brought up the possibility of having an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter put in to prevent future PEs, he was totally against that because he believes they’re not totally reliable/safe. He said only if the blood thinners don’t work should we consider that.

So I went Monday for an ultrasound — on both legs just to be sure, although if I had a clot, it would be in my right leg as a result of my femur fracture and surgery. Almost 4 months after breaking that bone, I’ve recently been having more pain than I was a month or so ago, so I was pretty certain I had a clot somewhere.

Wrong.

The ultrasound showed no clot anywhere in either leg — which of course is great news. But I sent the hematologist a note basically asking WTH? Did I have a clot in my leg and it already cleared up? Did I develop a pulmonary embolism out of the blue without having had a DVT? Or did some femur bone tissue flow post-surgery to my lungs and cause the PE — which I’ve read online can happen.

Whatever the case, I’ll just keep taking the blood thinners and hope the PE is going away, if not already gone. I’m still doing PT sessions for my leg twice a week, although I’ve been bad and kinda stopped doing exercises at home after the PE situation arose. Next week I’ll be seeing the ortho surgeon for the first time since June, so we’ll see what he thinks about *everything* (I messaged him about the PE).

So there’s your update on the latest in Frank’s 2024 health adventures. Stay tuned for more exciting news as it develops … but hopefully with the anticoagulants doing their thing, that doesn’t include more clots developing, lol! 🙂