How does one simply get back into blogging? They have a life-threatening medical emergency, that’s how. It’s going to be long, but I think this one is important and could help someone else.
If we’re friends on the Facebook you’ll already know all this, but I’ll go a little more in depth with the information.
On Friday, January 31…wait, let me go back. On Wednesday, January 29 I wore wedge boots. Why is this important to this story? Well, I never wear anything but flats since I started having issues with my back. So that day I was being brave and wore my wedge boots. Sometime mid-morning I got a cramp in my calf. I assumed it was because I was wearing the boots instead of my go-to flats. I changed into my flats during lunch and thought the cramp would go away.
Fast forward to the end of the day—the cramp wasn’t going away and it was hurting even worse. I went home and posted something about it on FB and a couple of friends responded by saying, “That’s a symptom of a blood clot!” My response? “Yeah, ok…..”
I didn’t really think much of it until the next morning when the cramp was still there. Not only was it still there, it hurt even worse! I was finally at the point with the pain that it was time to call my doctor.
I went in to see my PCP and had a mini-meltdown because this year has just been terrible in regard to my health. After I was done crying, she had me schedule a dopler (sonogram, basically) for the following day to rule out a clot and a bottle of Cramp X to help relieve the pain. It’s pretty gross stuff, let me tell you. And in full disclosure, the bottle she gave me was expired. My co-workers dared me to try it anyway. Yeah, nasty stuff.
My appointment was at noon the following day (Friday, January 31) and I really had no idea what to expect. I’d never gotten a sonogram/dopler before. I probably should have shaved my legs. The first thing the technician told me was that I had to take off my pants completely and they would start the imaging at my groin and go down to my ankle. Yep, definitely should have shaved my legs (I took ‘no shave November’ VERY seriously. It’s winter, gimme a break.
The dopler was far more painful than I imagined it would be. They have to collapse the vein so from the groin down the technician had to poke me a lot. Crazy painful. After a bit of poking and funny dopler noises, the tech (who shares the same birthday as me and was decked out in green, my favorite color) said, “Have you ever had a blood clot before?” I told her I hadn’t and she simply said, “I really wasn’t expecting to find one…but I did. It’s right behind your knee.
I honestly didn’t know how to react to that news so instead of an intelligent question I asked if I could see it. Here she is—introducing Clottie!
Here are the questions that I’ve been getting the most:
Q: How did you know it was a clot?
A: I didn’t. If I wouldn’t have gone to the doctor, I never would have known it was there. The pain was just so intense and excruciating that I had to go see my doctor.
Q: What does it feel like?
A: I’ve been searching for a good way to describe the pain that I was feeling in my leg. I recently spoke to a co-worker of mine who had a DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis, aka a blood clot) a few years ago. She told me that her pain was worse than un-anesthetized child birth. I have no idea if that’s true because I’ve never had a child. But I can tell you this, the pain truly was excruciating. I could barely walk or stand up to shower. A popular description online is that it feels like a charley horse that won’t go away. I’d say that’s accurate, only multiply the pain by 10.
Q: How do they treat it?
A: My doctor told me flat out that I would have been sent straight to the hospital if it were a few years ago. The typical treatment is an injectable blood thinner to keep the clot from getting bigger and keep others from forming. Then an oral blood thinner takes its place. I didn’t have to have any injectable thinners-I was prescribed Xarelto, which is a semi-new drug with minimal side effects. I have to go back to get a second dopler on February 28 to make sure it’s gone. I’ll remain on Xarelto for 3 months to a year.
Q: Aren’t you afraid the clot will break and cause a pulmonary embolism (lungs) or aneurism (brain)?
A: Yes. I’m freaked out that this thing in my leg could potentially kill me. I get nervous when I feel a twitch in my leg or even when I just move my leg and it hurts a little. I worry that I’ll do something wrong and I’ll be dead before I notice. I’m constantly playing out the scenarios in my head…it’s not good.
Q: So, what now?
A: Well, most of the pain is gone, thankfully. I am back to walking almost normally and I think the worst part is over. I only missed one day of work because the pain was so bad. I try to get up every couple of hours at work to walk around and I signed up for some aqua aerobics classes so I can start to get back into the swing of things.
Blood clots are nothing to mess with. I don’t recommend becoming a hypochondriac, but definitely be aware of things going on in your body. If something doesn’t feel right or you have a pain that’s worse than you’ve ever felt, get it checked out. I’m thankful for the friends who mentioned a clot on my FB post—otherwise I never would have thought to get it checked out.
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