I'm so Vein

What a day! Went to see Dr Wadge for a follow-up to yesterday's appointment. The redness on my leg has lessened somewhat, but the swelling has increased to the point that I can't completely fasten my bootette. Pain is getting worse, too, and spreading. Dr W thought this was most peculiar, so ordered an ultrasound. Found myself in the radiology dept of St Mary's a short 15 minutes later. Turns out what ails me is a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) aka a blood clot in my leg! I immediately alerted the BC Cancer Agency. I have been ordered to stop all medications aside from my anti-depressants. In their place, I will be injecting myself once a day with the anticoagulant Heparin, for life. Apparently the cancer makes me ineligible for Coumadin (Warfarin) treatment, so Heparin was prescribed instead. I've never been a big fan of needles and have never dreamed of giving myself one. Interestingly, getting over my fear of needles was one of the things that appeared on my bucket list, so I will likely be striking that entry in the near future. Hey, hundreds of thousands of people give themselves insulin every day. Friend Jo Ann's dear cat Julius did as well (with Jo's help) and never complained. I'm much taller than Julius ever was, so I'll try to assume the role of "big girl" and suck it up. So what caused the sudden clot? Speculation is that the Foreitnib is to blame. Remember last Dec when the drug trial was suspended before I started it? Well, the reason was that some patients were developing blood clots (I seem to remember that many of them were in the lungs). So I may be taken off the drug trial. Or not. Both my oncologist and the head of the drug trial were at a meeting this afternoon. I'll know more on Monday. Am scheduled to see the study nurse on Tuesday. So, watch this space ...