Update on health issues

My friend and I traveled to Vanderbilt Medical Center on Monday. We made frequent stops so that I could walk around because my legs were hurting so much, but the trip went well. We had to be at the hospital at 7:45 yesterday morning and when we eventually saw the doctor, she spent about ten minutes with me and then said I could leave. They did some blood tests and said that they would call my doctor here and give permission for me to start the new medication. I guess my doctor really just had me visit her so that he would have a second opinion that I was a good candidate for this medicine. It is still relatively new.

This doctor did agree with the other doctors that I should have a scan of my brain due to the continued pain at the base of my skull, but she couldn't do the scan there. The doctors here were planning to do it after I visit a neurologist at the end of March, but I didn't feel that I could wait that long. After I came back last night, the pain in my head was so bad that I went to the ER around 10:30 and spent the next several hours there. The nurse said perhaps I was just dehydrated, tired, etc. and the doctor said he didn't think Coumadin caused headaches. I emphasized again that this is not a headache, but a pain in the back of my head. I told the doctor I wasn't leaving until they did SOMETHING so he finally wrote me a prescription for the MRI to be done outpatient.

The scheduling girl had sympathy on me and she was able to work me in tomorrow. I have the scan at 4:00. The doctor said I could have a small blood clot or something back there causing the pain. Hmmm... I have a serious history of clots and might have a blood clot in my brain, but that's not an emergency. Needless to say, I am beginning to have much disdain for the medical field. (Thankfully I really like my primary care doctor and my new hematologist. They both seem to have a lot of sense and actually care whether I live or die.)

I spent the whole day in bed again today. The spot in my head hurt so bad that I just didn't want to move and on top of that, now I have another spot that is hurting. These aren't "headaches," but actual places that HURT. If they do not figure something out by Friday (my next appointment), I've already decided that I'm just going to stop all the medicine and live with the clots - or the possibility of new ones - and the risks associated with that. I can no longer handle all the pain, the constant appointments, the bills, the time away from my family because I'm so sick or gone to the doctor, etc. I just want to take care of my family and write.

I do thank you all for your prayers and support. I've appreciated the encouraging e-mails as they have been a small ray of light through all this.

Thanks,
Sonya