So close, yet still so far away

Well, I believe when I left off we were just days away from having a brand new procedure performed that would rid me of both my blood clots and my filter.  It is kind of twisted I guess, but I was pumped! I was so ready to be done with all of this and try to get some sense of normalcy back in my life.

So, the doctor called on Monday of the week after Thanksgiving and said the surgery was scheduled for Thursday morning at 8.  I needed to be admitted to the hospital the day before and would probably have to stay in the hospital through Friday.  I was going to be missing three days of school but it was worth it to finally be done with all of this.  That Tuesday night I stayed at school way too late trying to get everything organized so I could have a sub for the next three days.  Having a sub in middle school is ten times easier than elementary school, but it's still work.

Late Tuesday afternoon the doctor called and told me he wanted me to go to Harris at 7am to have a venogram so he could get a good look at the clot before they did the surgery.  After that we would head over to Plaza and be admitted.  My Mom and I got up early and took care of the venogram and then headed over to the other hospital.  Through several strange and disconcerting moments we soon realized that things weren't going as planned.  And really, why would they??  Absolutely nothing has really gone as planned in this whole process.

Anyway, the doctor eventually let us know that I didn't need to be admitted a day early and I needed to come back the next morning at 6am.  I was home from that little adventure at about 8:45.  I totally could have gone to work!!  Argh!  About 4 o'clock that afternoon the doctor called and said that the venogram showed that the clot was less than half the size it was.  Apparently my body was dissolving it on it's own.  He also felt like we could wait about a month and check on the clot again.  Hopefully it would all be gone and then we could remove the filter and be done with all of this.  He didn't feel like the surgery would be in my best interest at this time.

While I was thankful to not have to have a potentially risky procedure, and even more thankful that the clot seemed to be taking care of itself, I was bummed.  Waiting another month meant three very important things.  One, I was going to have to keep giving myself Lovenox injections twice a day for 30 days (again, I hate them).  Two, my next venogram and possible filter removal wouldn't be until January...just in time for all of my deductibles and out-of-pocket maximums to start over.  These procedures that wouldn't have cost anything will now likely cost thousands of dollars.  Swell!  Thirdly, this whole ordeal is not over yet!  And that is where we stand today!

So close, yet still so far away!!