Been a while since I posted

[Guest guest]

Hi All...

 

 

Well....it's been a while since I posted...but mostly because I have not been

feeling too well for at least 10 months now. 

 

Back around Christmas time 2009, I got really sick at one of the schools I was

substitute teaching at.....as I later found out...they had Mono running wild at

the Junior High and didn't know it.  My doctors took me off all my RA meds and

began trying to treat me....as I had gotten a severe case of strep throat with

the Mono.  Well, the first two antibiotics I was given did nothing to stop the

strep...but the Mono did cause a major allergic reaction in my system...as I

broke out in hives and had quarter sized leasions all over, that made me totally

miserable.  This was now the middle of February...2 months into my ordeal. 

Finally in the middle of March, my dermatologist took me to the local VA Clinic

where they have a Dermatology teaching semiar every Thrusday morning to present

me as a case. Well...I got to have over 200 doctors, iinterns and medical

students examine me, where they came to a consensus that the hives was caused by

an allergic

reation to the antibiotics and it was magnified by the Mono. 

 

But, that's only the start.  During the exams, one of the interns found a nearly

half dollar sized spot on my left shoulder blade that wasn't like the other

leasions.  So...a biopsy was performed....and I had a Stage 2 cancerous melanoma

and then had to have surgery to remove it.  All went well...and by the first of

May my shoulder was healing up nicely....but all of a sudden....Imy right calf

and foot started swelling up for no reason at all.  My calf got red and started

itching like you would not believe.  Well...since I have had a blood clot in my

left leg, I recognized the symptoms and off to get a venous doppler I go.  There

they found a 15 inch long clot in my right femeral artery.  My doctors are

comfortable giving me the option to treat it at home since they know I have done

it before...so back home for me with a crate full of Lovenox and

Coumidin....ugh...I hate having to give myself shots!!!   Doctors visits every 2

days...a battery

of test...they find something they had not expected.  Seems I have a rare

genetic trait causing all these blood clots...Protein C Deficiency, Type 2.

 

Protein C deficiency is a rare genetic trait that predisposes to thrombotic

disease. It was first described in 1981.[1] The disease belongs to a group of

genetic disorders known as thrombophilias. The prevalence of protein C

deficiency has been estimated to about 0.2% to 0.5% of the general population.

Protein C deficiency is associated with an increased incidence of venous

thromboembolism (relative risk 8-10), whereas no association with arterial

thrombotic disease has been found.

 

Type II: Qualitative defects, in which interaction with other molecules is

abnormal. Defects in interaction with thrombomodulin, phospholipids, factors

V/VIII and others have been described.

 

 

Well...after nearly a month and a half on Lovenox the clot is finally

dissolved.. and all of a sudden most of the things I have been eating to lose

weight, like leavey green veggies...I can't eat them anymore because I am now on

coumindin for life!!! 

 

 But wait...that's not all....if you act now...you get a free case of

peripherial neuropathy throw in for free!!!!  Yes..now my feet and calfs feel

like they are on freeking fire all the time!!!  It's like having " Pins and

Needles " 24-7..only its " pins and Needles " times 100 !!!!!  I can barely stand

to put socks on my feet anymore..none the less wear shoes for more than 5

minutes...I have cellulitis in my calfs that keeps getting infected every other

week...so I am on antibiotics all the time....and I can't work anymore.  The

medicine for the neuropathy makes me a zombie half the time...the joys of being

on Neurontin are wonderful!!!  Althoough I am sleepy all the time...I have a

very tough time sleeping for more than 5 or 6 hours a day.( last night I went to

bed at 2am and woke up at 7:30 this morning...the pain wakes me up)   Plus...I

haven't had any of my RA meds for almost a year now...so you all know how bad I

feel in that area

also....because they have to keep my immune system strong to fight off the

infections I keep getting.  

 

Some days are so bad...all I can do is go into my " man cave " and cry while the

TV is on loud so my wife doesn't hear me crying.  My body hurts all the time as

the pain from everything going on all at the same time is almost unbearable.  I

only leave the house to take and pick up my wife from work and to go grocery

shopping.  Just walking out to the street to put out the garbage is exhausting

to me...plus...I have to make sure I don't step on anything, because a wound to

my feet could cause a runaway infection which might cause me to loose my foot or

worse yet...one of my legs.

 

 

Just call me Sleepless in Spring....

 

 

Larry Holmack

KarLa Bichon Frise 

Spring Texas Bichondaddy1057@...