Lovenox - first day of self home-injection

Ryan and I went back to WCG at Blount Memorial first thing.  in the morning today.  We are both so anxious to talk to the nurse regarding the home remedy to help with my thrombophilia case.  So when we got there, I I was expecting that the nurse will give me my first shot.  Apparently, I have to watch the DVD kit first before I go through my first shot.  So to shorten the story, I just go tmy DVD kit and Tammy Thompson, head nurse practitioner, explained how the medication works.  Apparently, LOVENOX is an enoxaparin that it will help prevent DVT or Deep Vein Thrombosis or blood clotting that is normally caused by thick blood consistency. So apparently I am a thick-blooded person.

I took the opportunity to ask several questions, first one being is what are the side effects of taking the injections.  She said primarily some may experience drop in their platelet counts just because the medicine is helping with thinning the blood.  There are instances that I might experience heavy bleeding if I get a cut or if I have hemorrhoid.  She also mentioned that the baby is safe and unharmed from any effects of the medication (thank God!).  I was also told that since this is a hereditary thing, there is nothing I can do in my lifestyle to really cure this.  In the event that I get pregnant again, I have to take LOVENOX daily.  It's just a condition that I have to live with.

She did say that there are medication that I can take after giving birth that will eventually help my blood condition in the long term and that is something I can take up with my physician.

So, after learning all these, I got my DVD kit to learn more about LOVENOX and how to use the self-injection, and got my first set of syringes from the pharmacy today.  When we got home, i asked Ryan to give me my first injection, which should be on either my left or right love handles (good thing I have an abundant amount of those haha).  So we were standing under the bright light of our bathroom.  Ryan crouching down prepping the syringe, and me pinching my right love handle to be ready for my first shot.  You see I do not really care about injections and not in the least bit scared of it.  I guess it is different if you are not a doctor or nurse and you are the one giving the injection.  Ryan's nerves are all over the place.  He was holding the syringe for about 5 minutes pulling back and forth with hesitation to hurt me with the injection, hahahaha.  I have to yell at him to get on with it coz the syringe is getting exposed too long!  It was pretty funny. :)  Finally I got my first shot at 1045 in the morning.  And I have to do it daily at that same exact time, alternating my left and right love handles.

It's pretty scary thinking that I am taking medication on a disorder that has alot of health risks.  Then again, I am trying to stay positive and still continuously educating myself about Thrombophilia and DVT.  I got a long list of questions to ask my doctor about it because I read somewhere that there are higher risk of blood clotting during delivery, so I wanted to learn more about it when I talk to the UT medical obstetrician this coming Wednesday.

Ryan took some shots when I was getting my first injection and I realized that I should've taken a video because it would've been a 5-minute video of Ryan pulling back and forth on the syringe haha.  It's not too bad at the end of the day.  So we will see! :)

For more information, I have been reading about DVT and Lovenox from these websites:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_vein_thrombosis
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000156.htm
http://www.lovenox.com/consumer/default.aspx