Unexpected weekend at home

Diosa was being especially cute the other day and several photographs were taken

Since I am stuck this afternoon sitting on a heating pad, I might as well write my weekly blog entry. I am sitting on a heating pad in an attempt to get my glutial and hamstring muscles to ease up a bit. I have had issues with my right hamstring for about a year (not continuously.) But I woke up today and it is much worse than I ever remember it being. I am hoping that my muscle relaxer kicks in soon. More on this in a minute.

When I last wrote, I was optimistic that Sunday night would be my last lovenox shot. My coumadin clinic appointment on Monday did indeed bring good news: while not yet in therapeutic range, my INR was going up, and since I was out of the six week post-clot danger zone, my doctor said I could go ahead and stop the shots. I told him before we decided that, I needed to tell him something: I had been having wrist pains exactly like when my clot was diagnosed on Thursday and Friday. It wasn't as bad or for as long, but it was definitely consistent and had the same pattern as six weeks earlier.

The doctor left it up to me and we decided on the cautious route of doing shots for another week until my coumadin level is therapeutic. Incidentally, he wasn't too alarmed about the pain. (Here I was thinking I would be dropping a big bomb telling him...that it could mean my clot had reformed or in some way worsened.) He said it's common to have residual pain or swelling even after treatment. I still didn't think it was a great sign, and I asked if this meant there would not be any way I would be on this treatment for three months. He said three months was still completely feasible and that we'd just have to see.

Anyway, the good news is that the shots have not been as painful or left as bad of bruises for whatever reason this week. So yay for that. And I have not had any more bleeding incidents, so hopefully that one was just a fluke.

I lied: there is more good news. I have been feeling really good this past week, lung wise and mentally, too. I went for three or four bike rides and went to yoga twice. Also walked the dogs a couple of times. I have been tapering my prednisone down from the 20 mg upped dosing that I was on for a month or so to try to get my pfts up. It has made me a little short of breath, and, the frustrating thing is, my pfts never really went up. But I feel great! So I'm thinking I will have to taper slowly - my lungs may just be suffering some seasonal strain from allergens even though I'm not having typical allergy symptoms - and possibly stay at an increased dose for a while longer.

So yes, I am very happy having had a normal and active week. Plus, I have been getting a lot of compliments lately about how I look and my new haircut, which is nice. :)

Now I am feeling a little restless... Todd and I were supposed to go to the beach this weekend but he came down with a nasty cold and was not feeling up to it. Then I woke up today with this super-tight muscle issue. I'm wondering if it is because of all the activity I've been doing? I'm not sure if there is evidence for that except for the timing of an active week and, now, a very tight muscle. Also, I thought the initial flare-up a few weeks ago was because of having gotten out of my exercise and stretching routine for so long. Who knows.

Supporting local craft makers at the Handmade Market!

But I decided it wasn't going to ruin my day, so my soap partner Elaine and our silent partner Maura and I went to check out the Handmade Market downtown this afternoon. It was really great to see all the things there - jewelry, t-shirts, stuffed animals, metal work, glassware, pottery, body products...of course we were especially interested in the soap! We were also getting ideas for how to set up our own stuff if we do this event, or an event like this, in the future.