Val spent some more time in the ER this afternoon. Pain and quite a lot of swelling on the side of her neck where the blood clot is. Periods of racking coughs that sometimes jar a little something loose and bring up blood. Good? Bad? Neither?
It is very tiring being worried all the time. She coughs prolonged, sometimes bloody coughs; things hurt; things change shape and color; we read the instructions on the medications; we try to guess what’s allergies, what’s cancer. I wish we had an oncologist who could Skype with us at a moment’s notice to say, Yes, that’s weird and maybe dangerous; or No, that’s just the expected daily suckage of this cancer. It comes down to a tricky tug-of-war between our reluctance to jump down the medical rabbit hole yet again and our fear of what might be happening. We are so tired of hospitals. It is more fun to stay home and hang out with friends.
On the other hand, it is amazing how many friends are willing to hang out with Val and party down at the hospital. (Thanks Roz and Liz for making the party happen today!)
The ER docs said: Not much can be done about the coughing. A little bleeding-when-coughing is unfortunately par for the course. Blood thinners increase the risk there but it’s a calculated risk. The doc wasn’t worried about the (alarming-to-me) neck swelling; said it’s normal with a blood clot, which will take a while to diminish. Apparently the jugular can swell up to astonishing sizes, as indeed it has, and that might persist for a couple weeks, but we should regard it with aplomb. Good to know. Wish it had been mentioned originally. Ah well. What’s another afternoon at the ER among friends?
D
wtf and whew and whoa and wow and man oh man. thinking of you both. sending big love.