interesting days

[Guest guest]

I've had an interesting week. I've still been feeling better than in months,

but I do have good and not so good (no longer really bad enough to call them

'bad') days. Monday I was scheduled to have my protime checked because my

internal med doc had upped my coumadin from 7 mg daily to 10 mg daily. They

just can't seem to get my INR where they want it to be. Anyway, I've been

having a lot of the sleepless prednisone nights. I slept maybe 3 hours Sunday.

Monday afternoon I got to feeling pretty crappy so I took a nap. When I woke I

felt a little better but my right calf went into a cramp that drew my toes up

toward my shin. My right hand also went into a cramp that drew my fingers and

palm in toward my arm in this strange, contorted position. I then noticed that

the back of my right calf hurt. I had this horrible looking first sized bruise

with a knot in the center. It hurt like the dickens at even the slightest

touch. Called the doc's office and they said he needed to see me. He said the

bruise and knot on my leg were phlebitis. Told me to stay off the leg, elevate

it, and use moist heat. He checked my potassium and magnesium levels to see if

they were causing the cramps. Monday night I slept from 10:30 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.

and then just wasn't tired. My leg seemed better so I did all kinds of things

in the house. At about 6 a.m., I realized my leg was worse. It was hurting

from the back of my thigh down to the heel. There was a very red area several

inches down from the from the bruise and on the side of my calf. I touched the

red area and a chunk of skin just peeled right off. It left a raw area that

burned like the dickens! My entire lower leg was swollen. I called the doc and

he said go to the ER. My internal med doc walked over to the ER and looked at

my leg. He had already called the ER and told them I was coming. He said it

was most likely just phlebitis but wanted an ultrasound just to be sure. They

did an ultrasound which didn't show any signs of a clot. They did labs and

everything was normal - including my liver enzymes (hooray!). Yesterday evening

the leg was less swollen but in the middle of the night it was worse. It is

better now, but the bruise looks quite colorful! Last night I was nauseated off

and on and finally ended up throwing up several times in the middle of the

night. After that, I've felt better. Today I am just going to eat light, soft

food and liquids. I'm not having that much stomach pain so don't know why I'm

so nauseated. They checked my pancreas enzymes yesterday just to make sure and

both the amylase and lipase were normal. My white count was normal yesterday,

so I guess that means I don't have an infection in my leg. However, even before

Imuran, my WBC was normally below normal. Yesterday, it was 4.0 and normal is

4.0 to 10.6. The CBC and CMP I had done yesterday were the first I've had done

since beginning the Imuran 3 weeks ago so I really don't know if my WBC should

have been lower than it was or not. I'm staying pretty tired except when I have

the prednisone, unable to sleep, energy bursts. Of course, I'm probably tired

because a lot of days I'm functioning on only 3-4 hours of sleep.

Anyway, I was very excited to see my liver enzymes so good. I see my GI again

around the end of August and the plan is that he will begin slowly decreasing

the prednisone at that time. I'm supposed to have a CBC and hepatic function

panel done monthly, so I'll have that done around July 25th and then again

around August 25th.

Hope everyone is having a great day. I'm a little behind on my e-mail but I am

reading all the posts. Just don't have as much time to respond. Please know

you are all in my thoughts in prayers.

W