The carnage from my last hospital visit continues. And it is a bit unsettling but I have no choice but to work through it. Grandma Oddball as laid down the law; I’m not allowed to die! An order that I take seriously. After all, getting the look while I’m alive is bad enough. I shutter to think of the consequences if I die. Besides her force of will has already retrieved me from death on more than one occasion. Who has the courage to buck that strength?

What happened? Well, a lot. It all started a fews days after I got back home from the hospital visit. As I went to bed my right arm (my only useful arm as a result of my MS) had a sharp, stabbing pain that went from my armpit all the way down and around my arm to my wrist and the top of my fingers. The arm became very cold and discolored. In fact it was all purple. I massaged it and the pain went away and by morning the discoloration was gone. It still hurt when I stretched it but I just assumed that it was a strained muscle or something. Well, I was wrong.

I had a few other bothersome problems like being unable to take a deep breath without pain and having coughing bouts for about five minutes after changing positions but I just assumed that these were symptoms of my ascites. Since I was rapidly losing fluid after returning home I just assumed that these symptoms would also clear up as well. Ah well, so much for optimism.

Fortunately I had a follow up visit scheduled with my primary doctor where I got checked over. He in turn scheduled some blood tests, a chest x-ray and an ultrasound examination of my arm. The results are a good news – bad news scenario.

First the good news: I don’t have pneumonia and I’ve lost about 15 pounds of ascites fluid. I was felling better after getting these results but it didn’t last.

Now the bad news: Not all of my breathing problems were due to ascites but I apparently have pleuritis of the lungs and diminished lung capacity. Okay, I can live with that but then came the kicker. The ultrasound examination of my arm revealed that I have a massive (over 6 inches long) blood clot in my arm from just above me elbow to my armpit.

The clot seemed to have formed in the vein where I had my PIC line in the hospital and after the PIC line was removed the clot formed. Now, this was a shock. I wouldn’t have surprised to have a clot but never had I suspected such a massive clot could form. I’m starting treatment today for the clot and still learning my limits so I don’t exactly know how this will affect my life yet. Hopefully this won’t drastically alter my physical therapy but, well, it is my good arm that is affected and that may cause a problem.

I’m trying to keep my sense of humor. Actually I have no choice since grandma Oddball has ordered me to keep it and stay positive and you know what that means!!!! But I have to admit as the carnage piles up it gets harder all the time.

Tags: medical update

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