A Cancer Journey Has Twists & Turns

A good friend, someone also on a cancer journey, provided me with the title for this blog posting.

March 30th was to have been my fourth chemo infusion. About one week earlier, I developed a constant pain in my right leg. This has manifested itself as a strong cramp in my calf and additional cramping in my thigh. Standing has been hard and though walking sometimes seemed to stretch it out, I was best with the leg elevated and me on the couch. A heating pad gave some relief. Tylenol didn’t help, nor aspirin. You know I tolerate pain well, but this has been difficult.

I reported the problem to my oncologist on Monday. When they were finally able to get back to me, it was the morning of my planned infusion. My doctor scheduled an ultrasound of my leg sandwiched between my labs and my infusion. I was to meet with my physician's assistant during my infusion.

However, the plot, along with two other things thickened! (Going for a little humor there. 😋) We seemed to be waiting and waiting to be called in for the infusions. When they did come for me, it was to redo one of the labs (platelet count). The platelets in my first lab had clumped. For more information click here. You will see that this is most often a lab process problem, and is not an indication of anything about my very high quality blood🧛‍♂️! We resumed our wait for the infusion to start. When they came the third time, it was to say that my infusion was canceled for the day, and that they needed a third blood sample because the second one also resulted in clumped platelets. Each of the three tries was drawn in a different way, but guess what—the third one also clumped!

So next we met with the PA. She indicated they were all scratching their heads about the platelets but would work something out by Monday so that the infusion can be done. She also reported that the ultrasound showed a blood clot in my leg which as I understood extends down from my thigh to the lower part of my calf. I have always thought of clots as being more like a marble, but this one is more like a string. There was no suggestion that the clot and platelet problems are related. Anyway, this clot explains the pain in my leg. This is likely a new chemo side effect, but I did advise them of the genetic marker I have that may increase risk of clots and deep vein thrombosis or DVT, which is what I have. Thanks to my sister and 23andMe for alerting me to the presence of this marker.

I’ve been put on 14 days of self-administered shots of blood thinner. This is the same one I had after the surgery, but whereas that was a precautionary dosage, this is a higher dosage and requires two shots a day. I have four done as of this morning. I also have a prescription of tramadol to manage the pain. After the first shot and one dose of tramadol, I was able to sleep much better than during the prior week. Perhaps by Monday the leg will start to feel even better, and the platelet problem will be resolved. Until then, more reading and couch time for me.