A pain in the......foot?

After dealing with CF for nearly 30 years I've developed a tendency to undermine any health concern that isn't related to my lungs. A broken arm? No worries, throw a cast on it. Sprained ankle? Ice it. Fever, migraine, nausea? There's a pill for that.

This logic always seemed pretty reasonable to me: if it's not going to threaten my ability to breathe, I'm not going to waste my time worrying about it.

So when I started to experience swelling in my feet and legs this spring I was quick to attribute it to the high dosage of prednisone that I was on at the time. Then came the bruising, which I also wrote off as being a part the nasty reality of long-term steroid use.

And so I went about my daily business, bruised and swollen, for nearly three months.

As it turns out, this may have been a poor decision on my part. It wasn't until the pain from the swelling in my legs became so overwhelming that I could barely walk that I finally decided to book an ultrasound appointment. 

I knew the news was bad when half way through the ultrasound examination the technician got up and rushed out of the room, leaving me alone, pantless, and a little confused. When he returned he handed me a piece of paper that had been folded in thirds, put in an envelope, and stapled shut, rendering it unreadable. He then told me to go see my doctor right away, and that if she wasn't available to go immediately to emergency.

Minor tangent: if you are a medical professional I would highly suggest you DO NOT utilize this approach when giving your patients news unless your goal is to cause a massive coronary or a panic attack. After an hour of waiting (my mind racing over the endless list of self-created worse-case scenarios) my doctor finally arrived.

The bottom line: the pain I was experiencing was because a series of blood clots had made themselves at home in my left leg. The threat was that these clots could (or potentially already had) spread into my lungs, heart, and possibly even my brain, causing everything from a stroke, to a heart attack. 

The treatment: IV antibiotics to stop any infection as well as self-injected heparin to thin my blood thereby halting the formation of any new clots. The long term treatment involved being on oral blood thinners for a period of up to 12 months.

The good news: after being on treatment for a 6 days I seem to be responding well. The pain in my leg has diminished quite a bit, the clots have not spread, and I am finally back in the office (you'd be surprised how badly you yearn for work and routine after sitting at home/in a hospital for a week). 

The bad news: I currently look like a month-old plum. Seriously, whoever decided that blood thinning medication should be given as an injection must have been a real comedian.

So at the end of the day I suppose there is really one lesson to be learned here:

When your wife tells you to get your ass to the hospital (even if it's just for a swollen foot)....do it.

He's Back

It's certainly been a while. Almost three years to be exact. So what's new? Lets just say the last 36 months have been busy. How busy? Well, here's a quick recap of the big events that have impacted my life since my last posting:

1. After putting up with me for more than eight years, Stefanie and I got married
2. We bought a new house and managed to find some great tenants who are now renting out our loft
3. I started my MBA and somehow managed to survive the first year and a half of the program (barely)
4. I became an uncle
5. Friends For Life has become a fully registered non-profit comprised of a team of over 25 amazing people who work tirelessly to build awareness for CF and cancer

Yes life has been good.

That's not to say there have not been setbacks. My health has been sporadic at best. Most recently I've been  dealing with a long-term ABPA flareup. As a result, I was forced to start back on high-dose prednisone (65mg/day), which led to a slew of far-too-familiar side effects, including:

• Weight gain and the reemergence of the infamous "moon face" 
• Kidney and liver impairment
• Blood clotting and pulmonary embolism
• High blood pressure
• Prednisone related diabetes
• Insomnia and spontaneous panic attacks

It's been a challenge managing all the aspects of daily life while trying to remain focused on keeping relatively healthy. I've been forced to prioritize, which has often meant not being able to make time for friends, family, or myself. The reality of living with CF is that everything else becomes secondary at times. 

Nevertheless, I continue to move forward knowing that things could be much worse. Perspective is key......I realize that.....and so I try to approach each day with a positive attitude regardless of the obstacles that have been placed in  my way. So what has brought me back to the blog? I'm not quite sure. Maybe it's boredom, maybe it's my way of coping with the stress of dealing with CF on a daily basis.  Regardless, I'm here.  Is anyone out there listening? Well that's an entirely different question.