Blood Clot in Jugular

Options
CelineFlower
CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
edited June 2014 in Radiation Therapy - Before, During, and After

Well... this is what happened

about 10 days after radiation tx ended i started feeling crappy... like the flu.

Typical reaction to treatments, i thought.... and i wasnt to worried, settled myself into bed and was going to ride it out watching stuff online and resting...

I just kep getting sicker and sicker.... but fever never to got to more then 99.5f...achy body.... short of breath.. headaches. After about a week, i woke up with what felt like a kink in my neck from sleeping wrong

Saw my MO , on wednesday last week... he did blood tests and sent me home.

The pain in my neck was getting worse...a nd so was I. I wasnt eating..lost 7lbs in 48 hours.

My pivot nurse called me to tell me my wbc was high (17) andwhen i told her my neck was swelling up.. she said to go right away to the emergency.

My daughter took me.. and they did a ct scan  and found a large blood clot in my left jugular, large enough to have pushed my trachea over. My neck just kept swelling up... they did an ultrasound and found my skin, fat, muscle tendons etc was all very inflamed, and it was moving into my chest. 

I looked like i had a real bad case of the mumps.. but only on the left side. It was tender to the touch and hot.

End result.... 

They remouved portacath (probable reason for inflamation/infection )

40 day antibiotics

Daily blood thinning shots.

Once the swelling had gone down.. i was discharged (tuesday ).

It seems that thick blood is a side effect of chemo and rad tx.. and that even tho the cultures did not grow anything, there was still infection caused by the port... 

I am seeing my family doc on monday to look at this in the "bigger picture" , to understand the impact this will have on my life.

I thought i had read everything i could but i dont remember reading aboout blood clots and thickening of the blood.

This could have killed me... but it didnt.

Another battle fought and won.

· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Comments

  • chrissyb
    chrissyb Member Posts: 16,818
    edited September 2013

    Celine, I'm so glad you are on the mend.......that must have been so frightening.



    My doc says that regardless of anything else, we are all at risk of blood cloths because we have cancer and if there is something else that has that possible SE it's more likely to happen.



    Good idea about the chat with your own doc to see how this affects you.



    Love n hugs. Chrissy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CelineFlower
    CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
    edited September 2013

    Thanks Chrissy

    Its just all so overwhelming... everytime i think im getting a handle on something... i get thrown back 10 steps.

    My skin reacted to all the adhesives from the IV in my port for 6 days and thesurgery to remouve it. So i have open sores to deal with...

    AND...

    WARNING SOME MAY FIND THIS TMI

    the constapation due to all the morphine... OMG!!!! 

    From hell... most pain ive had related to bowels ever.. thought my insides were gonnarip out. I took the stool softners in the hospital but refused the laxatives... silly me lol

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • leggo
    leggo Member Posts: 3,293
    edited September 2013

    Yup, didn't know just having cancer puts you at high risk for blood clots either.....until I had one. To bad they wait until it happens to warn you. "Sticky Blood", my onc calls it.



    Glad to hear you survived the ordeal. So sorry you've had to deal with that and a port infection to boot. Sucks. Hope you feel better soon.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CelineFlower
    CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
    edited September 2013

    thx leggo....

    cancer , the gift that just keeps on giving...

    what a groaner of a joke *celie rolls eyes *

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • chrissyb
    chrissyb Member Posts: 16,818
    edited September 2013

    Celine, in one way or another our lives seem to be 'get used to it'..........I sometimes wish that the 'get used to it' didn't happen so often........sigh.



    OMG! Oh yes, silly girl for refusing the laxative! An absolute must is you are on morph and inactive.........major recipe for big problems! Sure hope things are moving in the right direction now and there is no more discomfort from that. Hope your skin is also on the mend. What a pain!



    Love n hugs. Chrissy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CelineFlower
    CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
    edited September 2013

    these antib's are  making me sick..

    im so tired of being sick...

    tired of being brave...

    i miss...me.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Marple
    Marple Member Posts: 19,143
    edited September 2013

    Sending gentle hugs to you Celine.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CelineFlower
    CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
    edited September 2013

    ty..so sweet marple

    do you have a bat? 

    and maybe some windows to break?

    sigh... now THAT'S therapy

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Leah_S
    Leah_S Member Posts: 8,458
    edited September 2013

    Feel better, Celine.

    Leah

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • CelineFlower
    CelineFlower Member Posts: 875
    edited October 2013


    So i have finished 42 days of antibiotics... had to have a pic line put in because i was not tolerating the pills oraly.


    Still taking fragim shots (blood thinners)


    Some days... i feel good...others still very tired... one day at a time.

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Categories