New problem

I called Katmai on Wednesday because my neck had been a little sore for 2 days. Since the pain was close to where my port is, I was a little concerned. They set me up for an appointment on Thursday morning so they could do an ultra sound on my neck. The tech immediately found the problem. There is a clot in my jugular vein, which is result of the port. I went back to Katmai to see what we were going to do to treat it. My nurse practitioner, Janet Bloch, wrote me a prescription for AriXtra (an injection), with a warning that it could be very expensive if insurance did not cover the cost, and we might do something else if it was a problem. Well, it is VERY expensive. $3800 for 1 month supply, my portion, $1100, and I would be on it for 4 months. So I left the AriXtra at the pharmacy and went back to Katmai.  They gave me a one week supply of the AriXtra that they had samples of and I will take Coumadin pills, which are only $4 for a 2 week supply. The problem with the Coumadin is that I will need to have my blood checked almost every day so that I do not end up with any bleeding problems. I do have to give myself the AriXtra injections every day, so that will take a little getting used to, but only for a week, not 4 months. I am not sure how long I will take the Coumadin pills, probably for a few months.

I felt much better this week and went to work every day except for Thursday, since this whole scenario took all day.

I was able to ride my bike the last 3 days since I have felt better and the sun finally reappeared. Now that I have started my infusions of chemo I quickly noticed that it has slowed me down on the bike. My favorite, riding uphill has slowed way down, and I am unable to ‘kick up’ the pace while riding on the flats. I will just have to wait till next year to have my old biking fitness back. I still was able to do a 30 mile bike ride last night, just took me a little longer.