Third Time's a Charm
On Friday (11/02/12) I had to go back to the hospital for another ultrasound of my left blood clot. It confirmed what I had already thought - that in the past six weeks my body had been working to dissolve the thrombosis (clot) that had grown in September, only to start re-growing in the past two weeks. Both my vascular specialist and I agree that the new growth was caused by the same 'inflammation storm' that happened back in September. What I mean by 'inflammation storm' is that everything seems to go haywire at once (ie. clot pain, intense joint/muscle pain, sinus headaches, chest tightness and hemoptysis, which is bleeding from my lungs.) As soon as I got home from my appointment, I had another episode of hemoptysis; the second one in less that two weeks.
A few days prior to the U/S, my pain level was so intense that I could tell the clot was growing, so I asked my rheumatologist for a prednisone course. She refused, stating that it was "too dangerous" and that I should just wait things out until I see her again at the end of November. This annoyed me to the core. Not only did my vascular doc agree that I needed to start prednisone, she also agreed that it's time I find a new rheumatologist. Another one bites the dust. It's not that I didn't like the second rheumatologist, it's just that I believe she truly doesn't know what to do with me, so she does nothing. My vascular doc said that she has a rheumatologist in mind who tends to "think outside the box" so I'm hoping that this third rheumatologist does the trick and figures something out. In the meantime, my vascular doc started me on a very low dose of prednisone, and although it hasn't cured all of my pain, it's certainly helped lessen the severity, so I'm happy.
A few days prior to the U/S, my pain level was so intense that I could tell the clot was growing, so I asked my rheumatologist for a prednisone course. She refused, stating that it was "too dangerous" and that I should just wait things out until I see her again at the end of November. This annoyed me to the core. Not only did my vascular doc agree that I needed to start prednisone, she also agreed that it's time I find a new rheumatologist. Another one bites the dust. It's not that I didn't like the second rheumatologist, it's just that I believe she truly doesn't know what to do with me, so she does nothing. My vascular doc said that she has a rheumatologist in mind who tends to "think outside the box" so I'm hoping that this third rheumatologist does the trick and figures something out. In the meantime, my vascular doc started me on a very low dose of prednisone, and although it hasn't cured all of my pain, it's certainly helped lessen the severity, so I'm happy.
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