My first day of Xarelto-free living felt uncontaminated and free. Maybe it’s all in my head but the air seems fresher, the food and water taste better and the flow of my body seems zen. Needless to say, I am happy to be drug-free for the first time in 18 months. I saw a full […]
blood thinner
Goodbye Xarelto. Hello Bicycling. Hello Triathlon.
My blood test results are back. The Factor VIII reading is at 210%. Normal levels would be between 50% and 150%. A high Factor VIII means that I am more prone to blood coagulation than normal. My last blood test in August showed a reading of 160%. The hematologist thinks it is elevated this time […]
Factor VIII and Antithrombin III Activity Tests
Some of my blood tests are back. So far so good. The tests that have come back were expected to be normal. There were no surprises. There are two numbers that the hematologist is looking for: Factor VIII Assay Test: This test is to determine whether my body produces a healthy level of this particular […]
Marathon Majors for now but maybe another Ironman in the future
Tomorrow is my blood test. My last test was pretty close to normal but I stayed on blood-thinner medication just to be safe. If this test yields the same results (fingers crossed), I will (hopefully) bid permanent goodbye to Xarelto. I will restart bicycling which means I will restart doing triathlons. If all goes well, […]
More blood test results and NYC Marathon training
I am still irritated with ESPN. I tweeted today to ESPNw that their “Best Female Athlete” bracket is flawed. They missed the best female athlete ever; Chrissie Wellington. As expected, I got no reply from them. I was happy though, that Chrissie herself favorited the tweet! The saga of my blood test results continues. Strangely, […]
6 vials of blood; Xarelto, Eliquis and optimism
Early this morning, I had blood drawn; 6 vials of it. My test results should be back in the next few days. The number I will watch closely is something called Factor VIII. Apparently, elevated Factor VII means that blood is more prone to clotting. I read the scientific paper and the most meaningful sentence […]