Well I have had better days.

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

(long and probably boring)
Background: Fourteen years ago, I shattered my left heel. Ever since if I walk to much, my ankles swells up like your basic balloon.
So last weekend the wife and I went to Palm Desert for a weekend with friends.
We got up Saturday and went for brunch. Expecting to return to the hotel, to hang by the pool, I wore flip flops.
After brunch, the others went shopping. I went along and walked for most of the day on my flip flops. By the time we got back to the hotel, not only was my annkle swollen, but my calf muscles hurt, and my calf was also swollen.
I figured the muscle soreness was from the the flip flops, and so was the swelling.
The next day, it had gone down a bit, but there was still some redness.
It didn’t hurt much, so off we went. No problems.
On Monday and Tuesday, the swelling was down, and the leg felt pretty good. On Wednesday, it was again swollen, so I made a Dr appointment.
Saw the doc on Thursday, she thought it was an infection, and gave me some antibiotics. Just to be safe she scheduled a ultra sound of my veins and arteries in that leg.
So Today at 1:30 I go to the Hospital outpatient diagnostic center. Tests take about 20 minutes, and technician says she is going to have the radiologist look at the scans. About 5 minutes later she comes out and tels me to go back to my MD now.
Uh-oh.
So back to the medical office I go.
Come on in, sit down, doc will be right here.
Doctor comes in and tells me she is going to ruin my weekend. She tells me I have a clot in my vein, and I have to go to the hospital so they can put me on an IV drug for a couple of days until the clot goes away and the oral blood thinner takes effect.
Wonderful.
She give me a note to give to admitting, and I promise to get my ass over there a soon as I stop by home for some extra books and my iPod.

I get to the hospital go to admitting and they disavow all knowledge of my arrival. They send me to the ER.
I check in and get sent to Triage. I did manage to crack up the lady working there who asked why I was there, and I told her my doctor decided since the Marriott was full, I should come spend the weekend at her place. :slight_smile:

Anyway I get sent to one of the cubicles where I got to change in the the typical hospital gowns. First a nurse shows up, then one doctor, then a second. The first guy seemed a little confused as to why I was there, when and where I had the ultrasound down, despite my telling him it was 2 hours ago at his hospital’s out patient diagnostic center.
Anyway the second doctor had spoken to my MD and he had a clue.
They told me that they were going to run some blood tests and then they would make a decision.
Technician comes in and starts drawing blood. Lots of vials of blood. About the time she is done a second tech shows up to draw my blood. :eek: This was the first good news of the afternoon. If he had gotten there after she left, I am sure he would have drawn it all over again.
After about an hour of hanging out in the ER bed, the RN shows up with my blood test results. She tells me that she cannot believe my blood tests. :eek:
What do you mean, I ask. She says usually went I see someone in a case like yours at least one thing is abnormal in their blood work.
AND? I ask
Yours is totally normal all the way down the line.
::: Whew::: :cool:
Then she tells me that the doctor has decided since I don’t appear to be that bad off that I can get the drug injected once a day for 5 days by a home visit nurse rather than hang out in the hospital for two or three days. W00t! I get some oral drugs, and two injections one in each love handle.
So after another hour and half, I got all my walking papers and got to go to the pharmacy and hang out while they filled my script for the blood thinner.
So I am at home my leg is a bit sore, still big as house.
I should hear from the visiting nurse this morning, and if I don’t I get to stop back by the ER to get the injections.
It was 8 PM by the time I got home. Damn long medical appointment.
I can’t wait to see the bill on this baby.
So this weekend I get to hang on the sofa with my foot up (at least some of the time)

ETA: So how is your weekend starting out?

2

Dude, be careful.

Sort of the same thing, I have flat feet, I walk around in flat shoes without orthotics, my calves get sore.

So that happened, and it didn’t go away. Must see the podiatrist, I think.

Finally, I wake up one morning about a week later, the day after ANZAC day. My leg hurts horribly. It is the day after a public holiday, and I am NOT calling into work, so off I go, but I stop by a friend’s house to feed their cats whilst they are out of town.

Park my car down the block. Walk 10 feet, start having trouble breathing. Think it’s the oddest asthma attack I’ve ever had - cause, yanno, can breathe just fine thanks, but it doesn’t seem to be doing me any good.

Get to their kitchen, I see stars, nearly lose control of my bowels and bladder, nearly faint. Spend 10 minutes just laid across the counter. Feed the cats anyway.

Standing still like that, I felt better, except I was sweating all over. Which was weird. So I decide it was a strange thing, go back to the car.

By the time I get back to the car, it had happened all over again, but sitting still I was almost back to normal - though as you’ll see, not thinking clearly. I decide it’s still the day after a public holiday, nobody will believe I’m ill, I’ll just make a doctor’s appt and go on in.

Halfway to work I realise that sweat is pouring off me, and I’m still not breathing properly, and my head feels a bit fuzzy, so I pull over and call my boss, who suggest I’m having a panic attack and will be fine. (He was projecting, he has them, I don’t.) I tell him I’m NOT fine, and I won’t be in, and I drive to the ER. Park, there’s about half a block walk to the doors. I get about six feet from them, struggling to breathe, feeling awful and faint but just thinking that if I kept putting one foot in front of the other I’d get there, and suddenly I’m on my knees on the concrete. I stop a lovely man (wish wish wish I knew his name) and tell him I need help. He put his hand on my back, told me he was a doctor and got on his cell phone and called the ER for a wheelchair.

Already long story short it was a DVT of unknown origin. I had a pulmonary embolism. I nearly died. They called my husband and told him to prepare for the worst. I spent two weeks in the hospital, four days of which in the high dependency unit. Turns out I have a semi-rare genetic thing going on that causes my blood to clot, and explains why my pregnancy years ago nearly killed me and the baby.

I get to take warfarin forever. This is incredibly sucky, but means I will not die.

The upshot? Now I DO get panic attacks, because every time my heart flutters a little, even for a reason (just ran up the stairs, for example) or I have an asthma attack, or my leg hurts - flat feet, see above - I freak out that it’s happening again.
This is my own fault because my husband’s grandmother died while I was in hospital, I bargained to get out early because of that, and while alone in the house since he had to go interstate, out of the hospital for less than 24 hours, I Googled “Pulmonary Embolism”.

Don’t. Just don’t.

So do WHATEVER YOUR DOCTOR SAYS. Please. The consequences are really really scary if you don’t.

Cheers,
G

Who, BTW, is fine these days except for the occasional pesky panic attack and the need to not get bruised, cut myself, or have oral surgery…

3

Damn, Rick , sorry to hear your stuck on the couch. I know how irritating it gets to just sit around. I’ve had problems with one of my legs, it got run over by a car, and it hasn’t been right for years. I still get around ok, but every once in a while I’ll get a clot and it screws me up for weeks at a time. You get satellite T.V.? I have dish network and sometimes they have the Monterey car shows and Barret Jackson auctions on it. More often than those is one in southern California, I tried to google the name it but didn’t turn up much. Maybe movies? They take up a good amount of time and will keep you away from your computer unless your on a laptop, in which case, it’s good, just keep your leg up. You know the drill. It’s overcast here but the wind blew all last week so time to pick up garbage in the yard. Take it easy man.

4

Sorry to hear your news. Sending healing thoughts your way!

How is my weekend starting? Well, I went for beers last night with my boss and he confirmed what I have been suspecting: It is likely I will be unemployed by July. He is desparately trying to find a place for hour group inside our huge company, but it is looking less and less likely. In fact, because I’m currently not billable, I was told that if I weren’t going on medical leave for most of June, I would probably have gotten my papers already. (Medical leave comes out of someone else’s budget, so the director is willing to wait until after leave to see if we find billable work for me.)

I suspect that my boss did not intend for me to know all this, but beer can do that to you… it isn’t like I was suprised.

5

Geez, Rick, be careful! Blood clots have been a big deal around here lately, I just had an ultrasound after an ACL injury to make sure I didn’t have any after I was complaining of calf pain (which is because I was walking on my toe for a week); my boss is waiting for the clots in his leg to go away so he can have surgery on his ACL, and this dude just died within 24 hours of finding out he had clots in his leg after an ACL injury. Glad you got everything straightened out, be sure to take those Coumadin pills (I’m assuming that’s what they prescribed for you? It was mentioned a lot before my ultrasound came up negative).

6

I’m just on the other side of the made redundant cycle myself - it sucks a lot. Hang in there **Khadaji[/]

7

Wow.

I had a 90 minute visit with my financial planner that was not the best time of my life, but it sure as hell beats any medical procedure!

Hope it all works out quickly.

8

Gleena did you have to mention flat feet? Now you have me worried. Anyway, no pain here other than some tingling and tenderness in my calf.
I slept pretty good, and am only going to sit at the puter for a short bit, then off to the sofa to read and watch DVDs. Good thing I finished the big screen install a couple of weeks ago.

9

You can relax and watch the hockey game tonight! That’s something at the very least.

My uncle had a very similar thing happen to him, but he was admitted to hospital - they refused to let him leave for 10 DAYS out of concern. Finally they had a MRSA outbreak in the hospital and were discharging as many people as they could.

Take it easy - watch some hockey, read a good book. At least you’re at home and on your own comfy sofa.

10

Ah geez, man. My cousin got a blood clot after being in a car accident. Then she went and had sex with a creep, ignoring the fact that the blood thinners interfere with her birth control. So then she got pregnant. You probably don’t have to worry about that.

Take it easy and catch up on your reading or something. I’m so glad you have somebody to take care of you.

And I don’t think this counts as mundane!

11

While you’re on blood thinners, look out for this!

You’re a nice guy, Rick. Take care of yourself, motto notwithstanding.

12

So of course the home nurse didn’t call, so I am off the ER to get a couple of injections.
I hope they have an express line for 3 medications or less.

13

Man all I had was a flat tire, you just had to go upstage me.

Declan

14

It wasn’t on purpose I promise.

::: Sigh:::
They don’t have an express lane. I had to argue with the doctor who wanted to admit me, because he said I needed the injections 2X a day, and my orders were 1X per day.
He googled and found out I was correct. :smiley:
The good news is he was the same admitting doctor I saw last night, and he is working tomorrow. So if home health care drops the ball again he told me to come back after 4PM when he is working and he will try to expedite my injection.

15

Ouch! Not a good way to begin a 3 day weekend. You take care, dude. I hear scotch works wonders on this kind of thing.

16

My allergies are flaring up a little. Damn Florida pollen.

That rates about a 0.05 to your recent troubles though. My dad’s mom died of an unexpected blood clot. Hang in there Rick, Khadaji, anyone I missed.

Oh geez… those two sentences didn’t go well together. Relax you’ll be fine!

17

Don’t worry, the only thing my flat feet had to do with it other than making me think the pain in my calf was related to what happened. It wasn’t anything at all to do with the DVT, that has to do with my own weird genetics.

Get better! Do what the doctor says and be safe and take care of yourself, you’ll be fine.

Cheers,
G

18

Damn Rick! Sorry to hear about all this. As you know, the Fam and I are in St Augustine Baby! And since you asked, we are having a blast. Sun & fun and time by the pool. Hope you get to feeling better soon.