Sharon703's Journal

Finally I am feeling much better, almost like the old me, at least physically. J I am so very thankful that I finally have a fantastic new Primary Care Physician to rely on.  The night after my appointment with him I finally slept like a baby- I think I finally let go of the stress of worrying about my progress and whether I am receiving good care.

Dr. Sherman, my new PCP, recommended that I talk with my OBGYN surgeon about my concerns regarding the surgery and raised risk for PE and DVT. His advice was right on track. Last week I met with the surgeon and asked her if she thought we should have considered taking me off the birth control pills prior to surgery to lower my risk of clotting. She explained that to do that was no longer the protocol and I would have had to be off the prescription for several months, which I could not afford to do since I needed to have the surgery as soon as possible. It was an excellent conversation and I have renewed confidence in her abilities and care. I now feel that with the new partnership between my OBGYN surgeon and my new PCP I will be taken care of appropriately. This is another huge relief because I really do adore my surgeon.

I’ve now been on Amitriptyline for a little over a week to help with my pericarditis and costrochondritis. Thankfully I am able to use this prescription and be able to sleep without taking Dilaudid anymore. Unfortunately I have been having extremely restless sleep for a week. I understand that it will take 2-3 weeks of being in my system before we can determine if it is working for my pain management.

I’ve also started working more hours beginning this week. I’ve worked regular time Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and will today and took Wednesday at home to rest up and work on all my insurance and doctor bills. It feels pretty good to be closer to my normal routine, although of course I am completely exhausted by the end of the day.  On Tuesday I even tried swimming with my buddies from work. I managed to stay in the water for an hour moving, but I paid for it as I could barely drag myself to the car to drive home. And I had such awful lung pain on my right side afterwards. Thankfully Ashley told me that happened to her so I didn’t think I needed to call my doctor. J

And last night it was around 20 degrees outside and I spent all day in back to back meetings so my chest and lungs really hurt a great deal. I’m sure that’s just part of the healing process.

On Tuesday night I received a personal phone call from my new PCP just to check up on how I was doing. What a truly wonderful doctor. Because it was late, I emailed him my updates and he wrote back that night and has been emailing me the last couple days. Boy, what a difference in care. J

Overall, I am much stronger than I have been since August and in mostly a much better frame of mind. I still ride the emotional roller coaster on occasion and get frustrated when I worry about every little ache and pain. But I can see the progress I’ve made. Now I am working towards coming off the Coumadin in the next 2 months or so, and hopefully we can get my INR stabilized since it was 3.5 again this week.

My husband and I still have to meet with my hematologist, OBGYN and a perinatologist to talk about whether pregnancy will be possible, however I’m taking it one day at a time for now.