No more injections?

I had my 8-week post-op checkup yesterday, which was uneventful except for the fact that I am going to start transitioning from one blood thinner to another. Yay!

As I understand it, all patients are given blood thinners for a month after this type of surgery, to prevent the formation of blood clots. Usually this is a daily self-administered injection of a drug called Lovenox. In the days following surgery I demonstrated a talent for forming these sometimes deadly pulmonary embolisms, so I hit the daily double: I got to give myself two daily injections, each twice the volume of the single prophylactic dose.

Hopefully, no more. Over the next couple of days I will continue injecting, but also take oral Coumadin. If the lab tests next week are agreeable, I can discontinue the Lovenox. I’ll probably be on Coumadin for quite a while. It’s a bit of a pain, because it requires frequent blood tests for monitoring, and constant dose adjustments. OTOH, I do weekly labs anyway and, well, who wouldn’t rather give up the injections if they could?