Almost exactly 24 hours after the first time, at 1am, I was woken up with sudden intense throbbing pain in my left lower chest. My breathing was shallow and strained and my heart was racing. As we started to call the paramedics, the pain started abating, and it stopped 5 minutes later. I wasn't that keen to go into Emerg again and spend hours there, but I was convinced to err on the side of caution, in case the pain suddenly came back.
So, back into Emerg. Again. At least there wasn't a wait (for me), and I was taken straight in and proceeded to undergo another battery of tests. More blood tests, another ECG, another chest x-ray. There was no result to say why I had experienced the pain. Maybe it was the same clot acting up or perhaps another one lodging in a very close spot (the pain was just slightly higher up than last time).
When the blood tests came back, my hemoglobin had dropped again, down from 135 to 98 and then to 94 that night. In men, normal hemoglobin levels range from 140-180 g/L. The doctor in Emerg ordered a CT Scan (my 7th!) of my whole abdomen to make sure I didn't have any internal bleeding, and also a rectal sample to see if I was passing blood. The CT scan required drinking 2L of fluid over two hours. I had to stay awake that whole time slowly drinking till 5:20am when it finally happened. The result was that I was not bleeding, so the drop in my hemoglobin must be due to the chemo. I guess. I left Emerg about 7:30am.
Now I am back at home. Last night was uneventful. I still can't walk or stand for more than about 60 seconds without a lot of pain building up, still due to a clot in my right calf. In the hospitals this last week I have been using wheelchairs to get around. My right ankle swells up if I lower my feet for too long, so I am spending all my time horizontal. Alas, we don't have any full length couches, so I flip between using a lazyboy chair and as I am doing now, compressing myself into a love seat. I couldn't take the idea of spending the whole time in bed.
Meanwhile the radiation and chemo are ongoing. I have had 9 radiation doses and have 21 to go. Since it is the weekend, I don't have anything scheduled for today. I have just over 4 weeks left.
