Napoleon Bonaparte
This morning, at about 10 a.m., I reported to the emergency room at MSK; at about 7 p.m., I left the hospital, implanted with a vena cava filter. As determined by ultrasonic examination, I have blood clots in my lower right leg. Apparently, my cancer has predisposed me to blood clots. The existing blood clots are highly likely to propagate into the upper leg. Because blood clots frequently cause pulmonary embolisms, which kill 50,000 to 200,000 people each year in the United States, the doctors would normally treat me with anticoagulant drugs. Unfortunately, the size of my primary tumor makes anticoagulants inadvisable. MSK will monitor the blood clots, which will be an ongoing problem for me, and defer for now making a decision on giving me anticoagulants. The filter was inserted through my neck into the inferior vena cava, the largest vein in the body, which drains blood from the lower body into the heart. The vena cava filter is designed to trap clots, to reduce the probability of pulmonary embolisms.
Tomorrow, Sacred Music faces 15 other three-year-olds, including eight males, in her race in Strasbourg, the Prix Champagne de Venoge. Whether or not we she is victorious, we will raise a glass to her!
