Kristin N.

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and almost 140 lbs gone.

that will work.

so my pcp just called me..i swear that dude loves me.

all my labs are good, my cholesterol and triglycerides came down, but my bad cholesterol is still a tiny high, but it's coming down.

I need some more iron, so i need to start supplementing that

the metal tests will take a bit longer to come back..but everything else came back good, all within normal ranges.

my clot is merely a dot now, but in the last few weeks my INR has dropped to 1.3...much too low, so now i have to take a higher dose of coumadin.

and i told him what i think, and it's his theory as well..that i'm just not absorbing all of my medications anymore.  

About 2 weeks ago, I had a weird pain in my leg.  I knew something wasn't right.

So I go to the hospital, they scan me, and I've got this massive clot in my right leg.

I think my doctor is an idiot for taking me off blood thinners so fast after the filter was removed...but whatever.  I spent two days in the hospital (after they transferred me to one far away). and now I'll be on blood thinners forever.

right after they removed that filter, the clot formed...less than two weeks till I was in the hospital again.

I hate this situation.  

it sucked.  I was awake through the entire thing.

Nothing quite like the sensation of a metal wire moving up through your entire body and out your jugular vein.

the sedation wore off as SOON as they started sticking rods and tubes in my jugular vein.  It didn't want to come out either.  I'm glad they got it.

I'm glad that's over with.

So I am officially down 15 lbs today, so 15 lbs in 12 days, not too shabby.  Considering how much I was freaking out the first week because nothing was happening.

Today I saw the vascular surgeon.  I'm scheduled to get the IVC filter taken out on wednesday, the 10th.  It sucks that my doctors are out of network so I have to pay up front, but I have great confidence in the doctors and they've taken care of me thus far.

Today the doctor told me I could move up to stage 3.  So soft and pureed stuff.  I've been doing this already (I didn't do too well at stage 2) and have been successful.  I knew I needed a little bit more than just liquids, and I know my body would tell me if there was an issue.  I did have some eritrean food yesterday though that was tough for a minute.  I find the hardest thing is eating and having a bunch of gas/air in my stomach.  I'm surprised at the burps that come out of such a little pouch.

I'm feeling a lot more energetic, still tired after I have a full day though.  I have an allergic reaction to the internal stitches/glue they used that just popped up on Friday, but the doctor looked and said it looks fine and to put some hydrocortizone cream on it when it's bad.  I also take some benedryl which makes me sleepy.  But the incisions look good and are healing up fine.

I have that shot I have to give myself every day, the blood thinner, and today I let my sister do it so she could experience giving a shot.  It was kinda funny.

Luckily I'll only have to be on it like a day after they take the filter out, so that will save some money.  Right now the shots are costing me 220 a week.

I guess I'm saving the money in all the food I'm not eating though.

So surgery wasn't as bad as I thought.  I had basically all but convinced myself that I was going to be a statistic and would not wake up.  It was the realist in me or something.  But Apparently it all went pretty well.  I remember being so scared and there was this lady at the hospital in the waiting room (at the obscenely early hour of 5:45 AM) who kept wiping her eyes with her shirt, but when she did, she kept flashing me with saggy old old lady boob and it was kinda gross.  So how could I stay serious in a situation like that?

So I went into the little pre-op area and the anesthesiologist talked to me, said he would take me back and give me something to calm me down. 

We watched Family Guy the night before to calm me down and the one with Peter singing Rock Lobster was on...so needless to say, it was stuck in my head the ENTIRE time i went to surgery.  I told one of the doctors as I was drifting off, and he thought it was very funny.

I remember him giving me the shot to "calm me down" and that's the last thing.

Next thing they're wheeling me from the recovery room to my room.  Apparently the surgery went really well and the filter went in with no problem...I do have what looks like a vampire with a missing fang bit me on my neck.  it's even kinda fang shaped.

I had my pain pump the first day and used it quite liberally.  I can just say now that catheters suck.  I don't like having stuff draining my pee into a bag and I especially don't like it when I'm having my period.  Couldn't they just drain them both into a bag?  what the hell.

The pain pump was great.  I miss it.  They would not let me have ANYTHING to drink the first day, because they had to check for leaks.  Nobody came to take me to check till the second day at like 9:30 AM.  So over 24 hours after surgery.  I was so freaking thirsty.  They did the xray and I'm all good so then i got some broth and crap.

The pain from the gas was so bad that I could barely take down anything...and the apple juice I had gave me diarrhea.  I'm not sure how, maybe the natural sugar was too much for me.

was the first day post-op.  So the day after.  I was in so freaking much gas pain last night I couldn't handle it.  And they took my pain pump away about the middle of the day.  Then I only got oral stuff every few hours.  That was definitely NOT cutting it.  I was in so much pain and it came on quick and I lost it.  So they were trying to get some more stuff for me and the secure cabinet with the drugs in it stopped working..they had to call someone to fix it, the whole time I'm writhing in pain and just crying and freaking out because it hurts so bad.

I was finally able to pass some more gas, along with the hemhorriage bleeding from my period, i swear you'd have thought someone was killed in that room.

And today I was much better.  I got to go home, which made me very happy.  At home I can control what I eat and getting up and laying down adn I could take a shower (thank god).

SO two days out, I'm trying to sip fluid all the time and I think i'm doing ok.  Sometimes I forget that they even rewired me (but then I hiccup and it feels like someone stabbing my insides and I remember real quick).

Oh, and I actually came out a higher weight than I went in.  I'm guessing all the liquid they pumped into me.

So this morning I was up and out of the house by 7 am...to drive for two hours to get to my appointments.

I first saw the Vascular surgeon Dr. Baummann who will be putting in my filter, and I am actually going to be a guinea pig for a FDA trial for a specific type of REx Option filter.  So that should be interesting.  Maybe it'll help it get approved and it'll be used more.

Then I saw my surgeon and despite me not eating/drinking/breathing, I still gained 3 lbs.  Though there was a discrepancy with the scales since last time..and it still doesn't add up to me.

I'm on strict liquid diet for the rest of the 6 days till surgery.

I then got my rx's for pain meds and pepcid and went over to the hospital.  The nurse met with me and gave me lots of info and asked a lot of questions.  I then had some blood taken and took a few classes.  This all went non-stop till 3 pm.  we then drove home and got back at 5.

My surgery is at 7:30 AM on the 18th.  I have to be there at 5:45 AM...it takes us at least an hour and a half to drive there, so we're actually going to stay there in town that night so we can just get up and go.  And I'll get to swim at a hotel the night before and do some more breathing exercises. Want to be nice and strong for this.

I know everything's going to be ok, but I'm nervous.  I think I'd be crazy if I wasn't nervous.

It's coming up on me quick.

Sept 18th


about freaking time!!

Holy shit..my insurance approved me.

I'd give blue shield a kiss if i could.

denied me.