The NHGHs of Life Pt. 3 - The Health Edition

  My health has been pretty crappy lately. I spent the last four days of 2014 in the hospital due to my creatinine level jumping up to 6.91. Normal range is 1.0 to 1.3. It seems the trial drug (which was most likely Celebrex) and the metformin I was taking were the cause. A blood clot in my right calf was also found at this time. On a more recent note, I just got back from the hospital again. This time my INR was through the roof. Since the discovery of the blood clot, I've been taking Coumadin a.k.a. warfarin. It's an anticoagulant. I was also taking a faster acting anticoagulant, Lovenox, for a short time until the Coumadin in my system reached the therapeutic level of between 2 and 3. The amount of Coumadin I was taking was periodically adjusted in order to achieve this level. Right before I had to head back to the hospital, I was taking 12.5mg on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 10mg the other days of the week. This past Wednesday, I wasn't feeling well. The right side of my jaw ached and I was told I looked rather pale. Every time I blew my nose, the mucus was bloody. That night, I couldn't sleep. I had chills and my jaw still hurt.
  The next day wasn't any better. My appetite was gone which turned out to be a good thing because my stomach became upset. I went to the emergency room and checked myself in. Over the course of the next few days, an infection was discovered in my jaw and my INR was found to be a stratospherically high 10.1. If I had cut myself during this time, I would have bled rather profusely. If I had suffered a more serious injury, I could easily have bled out. So more time in the hospital. More work days missed. More medical bills. This shit's happening far too frequently. I'm a pessimistic, cynical son of a bitch when things are relatively normal. This isn't improving my mood. I find myself waiting for the next crisis. It seems whenever things start looking up, NHGH comes along and bitch slaps the taste out of my mouth.

The Upcoming Chemotherapy Treatment

  At some point in the not too distant future, I will be starting chemotherapy. This is because some cancer cells from the malignant polyp penetrated my intestinal wall and got into a lymph node. Even though this node, along with 19 others, was removed during the colectomy, some cancer cells may have gotten into my bloodstream or lymphatic system. This could lead to the cancer recurring at some point in the future. Chemotherapy is designed to kill fast dividing cells like cancer. Unfortunately, other fast dividing cells, like bone marrow, get killed as well.

  The drug cocktail the oncologist wants to use consists of the following three drugs, 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Oxaliplatin and Leucovorin. The first two drugs have a lengthy list of side effects. While I won't necessarily suffer all the listed side effects, the treatment will still wreck havoc on my system. They want me to be part of a clinical study and I've agreed. They want to see if six treatments are as effective as twelve. They also want to see if the drug celocoxib, also known as Celebrex, can prevent the formation of intestinal polyps. I'm hoping to get into one of the six treatment groups for two reasons, it'll cost me less and I'll suffer less side effects. The medical costs are racking up fast and I have yet to receive my first disability payment. While the insurance I have through work pays for most of it, what's left in a few instances has been quite substantial. My biggest worry is that at some point the insurance will stop covering the treatments and I'll be stuck with the entire bill. I'll post more as things progress.