Well, it seems it was a very good thing I finally broke down and went to the doctor this week for my leg issues. After deciding I had not broken my ankle, the doctor scheduled me for a vascular exam to look for blood clots in my leg. Lo and behold, I have a freaking HUGE one in the leg that has been bothering me. Well, what does that mean?
The main cause of deep vein thrombosis -- also called DVT -- is poor blood flow. When circulation slows, blood can pool and more easily form clots -- raising your DVT risk.
Deep vein thrombosis occurs when a blood clot forms in a vein deep inside a muscle in your body. It usually happens in legs, but can also develop in your arms, chest, or other areas of your body. And though DVT is common, it can be dangerous. The blood clot can block your circulation or lodge in a blood vessel in your lungs, brain, heart, or other area. The clot can cause severe organ damage and even death -- within hours.
from WebMD
So needless to say, I had a crazy day yesterday. I dashed out of work around noon thinking I'd have time to eat when I got back from the silly little precautionary test the Dr had ordered. Ha! Instead, I ended up spending my afternoon at urgent care where they ran blood tests and an EKG on me and then gave me a shot and a pill. In addition I received an info dump on the medicines and procedures I would be living with for the next 4 to 6 months. Yeah, that's right. 4 to 6 months.
I get to take a shot of Lovenox 2xs a day until the feel the Coumadin has built up enough in my blood stream to help me. The Coumadin I will take once a day. But wait, I haven't got to the best part yet. Apparently, while we wait for the Coumadin to build up I get to go take a blood test 6 days a week. Yup, every morning before 9:30am, except Sunday. Then once I am off the shots, I get to reduce those lab visits to 2 days a week until they feel I am stabilized. As I stabilize on the Coumadin the visits will tapper down to once a week, then once every two weeks, until I am at once a month. Then I continue at the once a month level until I am off the meds all together, which is whenever the blood clot is gone I suspect. Yeah, that's right I won the freaking medical lottery today.
So, all this makes you wonder...just how big is this clot? Well, apparently its huge. It goes from my inside knee area all the way up to my inner thigh, almost to my groin. That translates to FREAKING HUGE. Needless to say, the DH is freaked out and all worried over me. I am hoping
he reins it in, because I can't deal with him and all of this. Sigh. And, of course, I STILL can't exercise for at least another five days. Maybe longer once I see my regular doctor.
They still can't tell me exactly how the clot formed, but suspect that it is a combination of my muscle pulls, my fall at work earlier this month, and my birth control pills. It apparently doesn't help that I'm fat either. Go figure. Well, that's my news folks. Kind of outweighs my weigh-in and general update, but hey the doctor's scale on Monday was not kind to me. (I really wish they'd let me take my shoes off!) I weighed in at 209lbs fully dressed with Doc Martin's on (those are what they look like, I still love those shoes!). Double sigh.
For now I am focusing on getting healthy so I can then start working out and losing this dang-on weight. that means shots, pills, and blood tests for the next little bit. Hope you all had a better day than me yesterday.
