When it rains...it pours!

We have had a long list of things that have gone wrong already this year, but this week has been extremely stressful...

Luke's leg started swelling at the end of last week. Just a little puffy in his lower right leg. He finally decided to call a doctor about it on Tuesday. (He hasn't seen a doctor since 7th grade). He told them what was going on, and they scheduled an appointment for that day at 4:20pm. They then called about 2ish and said they had some cancellations, and to see if he could come in earlier. We rushed outside to clear the twenty feet of snow off of the car and off he went while I stayed home with the girls.

He calls me awhile later and says they are sending him to the big Cleveland Clinic building in town for an ultrasound of his leg, because the doctor thinks there may be a clot. Sure enough, he calls me afterward and says they found a small one above his calf muscle, so he needs to be on blood thinners. The office was calling the prescription in at Rite-Aid, then he has to go back to the office because they have to show him how to use them...because they are NEEDLES!!! I believe at this point in time, he was running on auto-pilot, and nothing was really sinking in. He is scared to death of needles. He gets to the pharmacy and the total bill $628 for 10 shots! The pharmacist asked him if he would like to call the doctor and see if there are other options, and the only other option is to be admitted to the ER and they could do the shots, and since it would be at a hospital, we could get on a payment plan.

He calls me and tells me this, and there is no way I can have him stay at the ER for a few nights, that is just crazy! I tell him we can charge it on a card, and we will worry about it later. Well Rite-Aid didn't have enough to fill the prescription, so they gave him 4 shots, and said the rest will be in tomorrow, so we can pay for it then. He takes it to the office, and they want him to do it himself so they know that he knows how to administer it. He told me he has no idea how he got through that, but he ended up lying down on the doctor's office floor for awhile because he about passed out.

Apparently, he has arthritis in his knees, which is causing fluid to build up in his knees. Well the fluid constricts blood flow to his legs, which caused his leg to swell and the clot to form. So now he has been doing shots twice a day until Sunday morning. I've been giving them to him, because he just can't handle it himself, and I'm not so sure I'm handling it either, but we are managing. He is also on pills that he will be on for 3 months, and he has to go to the lab today to get his levels checked to make sure his blood isn't too thin. He can't take other medications as of right now, so he is stiff and sore beyond belief. The medication makes him tired, and gives him the chills, and now his belly looks like he is a junky with all the poke holes in it. We are getting ready to make a list of questions he can ask the doctor when he goes for his lab work today, so we'll see what the game plan is to get him better, because right now, he is a zombie. Now I know what single mothers feel like with 4 kids!