Calf Raises

Tuesday, June 28, 2016.  I started watching Big Brother with Jen last night.  Kind of ridiculous, but dare I say mildly entertaining.  Anyway, the “motto” of the show is “expect the unexpected.”  That is something I am beginning to embrace.

I last posted on Saturday morning.  It was the day after Jake had left for camp, we had gone down to the shore to relax, and I was just starting to feel better after a solid week of parainfluenza (a fancy way of saying the common cold).  When I had gone to the bathroom at 3 or 4 am on Saturday am — which has become a somewhat regular occurrence — my right calf was tight.  It felt as if I had been doing heavy calf raises the day before.  But I haven’t done calf raises since the late 90’s.  My calf remained tight throughout the morning and early afternoon.  Jen and Lenny both suggested drinking more water.  If you have seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding (I have yet to watch the sequel and don’t plan on it), just think of Windex when I say water; Lenny (and Jen because she is his star pupil) believe that water cures everything.  And I mean everything.

Although I did drink some water throughout the day, by about 2 pm, with my calf still tight, I thought it made it sense to call the doctor and explain.  Sure enough, after explaining the situation to the doctor on call, he said there was some concern about blood clotting and he thought it best for me to come into the emergency room and get an ultra sound.  Only problem was we were at the shore, which is approximately 2.5 hours away from my home away from home (NY Presbyterian).  So we had to call an audible.  Shore Memorial Hospital here we come.

Lenny and I loaded into the car for a quick trip to the local ER.  But this was no quick trip.  To make a long (8 hour) story short, the person that needed to give the ultra sound had to be called in from who knows where.  Once she arrived and the ultrasound was done, I needed blood work at the request of my doctor (who thank g-d got involved and on the phone directly with the attending doctor in the ER at 7 pm on Saturday night!).  But because of some of the medication/chemo, the blood tests were inconclusive and showing cholesterol levels that were off the charts (Lenny had some original theories, but they were quickly debunked and it was explained there is a specific chemo medication that causes this).  It turns out that I had several “superficial” blood clots in my calf.  These clots were close to the popliteal vein in my leg, which is concerning because if the superficial clots move into the popliteal vein, the clots can travel up the leg and potentially to your lung.  This necessitated an immediate injection of Lovenox (which I now self administer into my “abs” for the next 30 days).  All was not lost, however, as we came home from the ER (around 10 pm) to a full BBQ dinner care of Justin.  Other than watching Lenny mix up so many different foods on one plate I thought I needed anti-nausea medication, the food was delicious.  All problems were solved.

The last 48 hours have included several long naps, a trip to the doctor with Jen for a post-shore check-up and lots of resting.  We did get to see Finding Dory with the boys on Sunday afternoon, which I promised I was going to take them to. I had said it was going to be a boys only trip, but Jen had to drive and I barely made it myself.

Gearing up for another chemo grind that starts tomorrow and carries us through July 9th (another 8 games (treatments) in 11 days).  My chin is up and I am looking downfield.  Not sure what quarter of the game we are actually in, but I know we are winning.  [I know, way too many sports metaphors in one paragraph….]