Remember when I got a blood clot in my leg in November? Well, when August turned about 8 weeks old, it was time to revisit the issue. From November to the beginning of April I was on blood thinner shots, twice a day.
In early April I met again with my hematologist. He drew a lot of blood and scheduled me for an ultrasound of my leg. Well, the ultrasound showed that the blood clot was greatly reduced...but there was still some there. When I met with my hematologist again, he told me that not only was my blood clot still there a little bit, but I was also heterozygous for a clotting disorder.
In other words, there are two genes responsible for the full fledged disorder. One of the genes was "on" but the other was "off". Which means that I am 30% more likely to get a blood clot than the normal population, but I don't have the full fledged clotting disorder. So a little bad news, but also some relief too.
Anyway, he put me on Coumadin, which is a pill. Yay for no more shots! Yay for not fighting my insurance! The shots were about $3000 a month, and so I had to fight my insurance company every month because they would continually deny the prescription--but the shots were safe for pregnancy. The shots are safe for breastfeeding too, but the pill is too, so now I'm on the blood thinning pill.
Having just a pill is nice. But there are some caveats. This particular medication is very tempermental. I have to go to a medication clinic twice a week to have my coagulation levels tested-- they don't want my blood too "thick" or "thin". It interacts with other medications, so any time I take any other medication, I have to let the pharmacist at the clinic know. Also, if I get sick and my food intake drops, or I go on a diet, I have to let the clinic know. If I eat too much of a food containing Vitamin K (which thicken blood) or too many cranberries or cherries (which thin blood), I have to let them know. To drive in to the clinic takes 30-45 minutes, depending on traffic. I'm in and out in about 20 minutes, but I still have to be monitored twice a week to make sure my clotting levels are normal.
Very frustrating and frankly, it's a big stress with Matt in school and five children. But it is what it is and so hopefully the rest of my blood clot will resolves quickly. I will have to take a baby aspirin the rest of my life, which seems like a dream after these last two medications!
