A blood clot was the price I paid for a (mostly) clean scan

Yep, you read that correctly, I have a blood clot. And not just any blood clot -- a blood clot IN MY LUNGS, aka a "pulmonary embolism." Whatever you do, don't google that. It may give you a panic attack like it almost gave me.

Before I get into the details of the blood clot (I shudder as I type those words), I should share some happy news. I spoke to my care coordinator, Kille, and the preliminary results of my PET/CT scan came back, and, according to the notes from my oncologist, I had an "excellent response". My lymph nodes all have shrank considerably to the point where there is no detectable cancerous activity! Unfortunately, Kille didn't call it "clear", as it seems like most people refer to a negative scan, but she did say that this is the closest to a being in complete remission as you can get without being in actual complete remission (remember, I still have to complete the rest of my cycles of chemo).  I am meeting with Dr. Peterson tomorrow to go over this in more detail, so hopefully I'll have a bit more information. Maybe I can even get him to declare it as "clean!"

Normally I would be jumping for joy with this news. But nothing can ruin a good buzz like a blood clot.

So, imagine my surprise after finishing my scan, coming home, and starting to watch a trashy Shocktober movie with Scott, when I get a frantic voicemail that I need to call the oncology team back about my scan ASAP. "This can't be good," I told Scott. Of course, at that time I thought it was that my scan came back showing more cancer, and that I would have to go on a more intense chemo regimin and get a stem cell transplant. My, how quickly the mind assumes the worst! So when I heard the term "blood clot", I was a bit taken back. It was once I heard the words "ER" and "right away" where I began to get it.

On the way to the ER at the U of M campus, which is about 20 miles from my house, I called back to see if I should go to a closer ER (this was after I spent some time on google where it kept associating pulmonary embolism with "life threatening"). This time, I got Kille who talked me away from the ledge and told me that this was not exactly uncommon with cancer patients, since cancer and chemotherapy both increase your chances of blood clots. However, it is still something to take seriously but that by going to the ER I was doing all I could.

Once we got to the ER, I rushed through the doors (not after setting off the security due to still being radioactive from my scan -- but more about that later). This didn't seem like a normal ER, since there was no waiting room or anything, but hey, I wasn't complaining. I was admitted right away (that is, once they determined I was not a terrorist and was only radioactive because of the radioactive iodine from my scan) and met my ER medical team.

They gave me the d/l: since the blood clot was detected in my scan, it was called an "incidental" blood clot, meaning it was something that showed up when they were looking for something else (ie if I still had cancer). The theory is that this clot most likely started in my leg as a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and spread to my lung. Oftentimes when a blood clot spreads to the lungs, the person feels symptoms such as chest pain, dizziness, or shortness of breath (I felt none of the above). They ordered some blood work and an EKG to see if this was, indeed, life threatening.

Four hours and a river of anxiety later, everything came back normal -- my blood pressure was actually lower than usual, go figure -- and I was discharged. PYSCHE! I wish it was as easy as that. The blood clot changed the game. Now, as to make sure I don't get more clots, I have to take blood thinners twice a day for six months. I know what you're thinking, big deal -- more pills! It's not like you're not taking a bunch already! Well, my dear friends, the blood thinner is not in pill form; it's in shot form. So, twice a day I get to look forward to shooting myself in the stomach. And the most annoying part about it is that these blood thinners don't do anything for my current blood clot; I have to be patient and wait up to TWO MONTHS for that bad boy to go down. I guess it could be worse. Thankfully, the shots are pretty painless and quick to administer. But they're still shots. :(

Needless to say, it was an "eventful" 24 hours. Oh, the joys of the roller coaster ride of cancer!

Tomorrow, I will meet with Dr. Peterson to go over the scan in more detail, get an ultrasound on my leg to find the source of the clot, and get my 5th treatment of chemo. Here's to hoping things are a little less "eventful"!