When I started chemo I didn’t realise that mesothelioma treatment can cause a blood clot or DVT complications.
I thought twice about including this as it is a negative incident in what I think is a relatively positive story. But I wanted to tell the whole story and as I said earlier this is an incident that may be unique to me and not necessarily representative of the treatment of mesothelioma.
After my third session of chemo I became aware of a pain and swelling in the lower part of my left leg. It was a Friday night and my only option was to go to the emergency room of my local hospital, not the best place to be when you have an immune system compromised by chemo.
Fortunately they were very aware of that fact and put a mask on me and then straight into a private room. That’s where the special treatment ended, I still had to wait a couple of hours before a doctor showed up.
Almost immediately he suspected a blood clot or DVT. I was given an Injection of Innohep (Tinzaparin) and told I had to go back on Saturday night and Sunday night for more shots which involved the same wait time.
On Sunday afternoon my oncologist phoned me at home. I was pleasantly surprised, I assume he had been alerted by the hospital. He told me that the combination of cancer and chemotherapy can thicken the blood, this treatment can cause a blood clot or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) complications.
As I had a previous history from a few years before after a long haul flight this meant I was susceptible and unfortunately this meant I would be on blood thinners for life.
After the previous DVT I was put on warfarin (Coumadin) but as this had never been tested on cancer/chemo patients I would have to self inject Innohep every day for life! The only good news was that my health care would cover the cost of over $10,000 a year
Not exactly what you want to hear anytime especially in the middle of a chemo course. It really was a pain, figuratively and sometimes physically, every day, rain or shine, on vacation or not, the first thing you’ve got to do after you wake up is stick a needle in your stomach!
I stood it for 18 months and then one day I was trolling through that internet thing I told you to avoid and I came across an article about rivaroxaban (Xarelto) an oral blood thinner that had good results after a limited study on cancer patients
I mentioned it to my friend, the oncologist and he said yes!
I was so relieved ! a negative beginning with a positive ending
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