What a Pain in the Neck

It was June and we went for a walk. I'd been experiencing some pain in my neck. Just bothersome, but noticeable. Earlier in the day I had had a nose bleed. My nose bled a lot because of the chemo, but this one was hard to stop. Later that night I couldn't sleep. The pain had become unbearable. My husband woke up around 1:00AM and noticed me missing. When he came out of the bedroom he asked if I was ever going to go to bed. "I can't sleep" I said. The pain was too much. It had been gradually increasing to the point where now I was unable to move my neck much. He insisted on calling the doctor. I told him I thought I probably had a blood clot. I'd been googling my symptoms and that's what it appeared to be. Once the doctor learned I had a significant bloody nose earlier in the day she insisted we get to the emergency room and about 7 1/2 hours later I was finally getting an ultrasound which confirmed I did indeed  have a blood clot. In my jugular. A result of my port. I was then prescribed Lovenox injections, which once brave enough, I injected myself , 2 times a day. I did these shots for 5 months. Sometimes I cried. But usually I went about what ever business was ahead of me. I've given myself shots in hotel conference rooms, at a dinner table in a crowded restaurant, in a car, on a plane, in a bar, you name it. What once seemed impossible, to point a sharp needle at my abdomen, push it through my skin and inject myself became old hat. Like everything else when dealing with cancer. You do what you have to do.