Health SCARES!!!!

It was July 11^th, 2013 and I just returned home from having surgery on my knee. It wasn’t a complicated ordeal, just a minor meniscus tear and small lateral cyst.  I did well waking up, although extremely tired from all of the anesthetic, ate a burger and my husband took me home to rest that day. I was in pain by evening but nothing too unbearable.  I wasn’t that immobile, as I am jumpy by nature, but did enjoy a few extra hours watching TV. A day and a half later on Saturday morning, I awoke to tightness in my calf. By Monday it was really getting worse and becoming achy and annoying. I called my doctor, had an ultrasound and it was told to me that nothing was wrong. I told them that it just didn’t feel right,  please look again, but no one seemed that concerned. So I went about my hobbling way and tried to get through the week. It got worse and worse, and I mentioned this to my doctor, but again they said it’s probably a tight muscle and to elevate and ice it. Something just didn’t site right though. My pain felt like it was everywhere in the calf, but it was in fact localized. My foot was warm. I could barely touch my leg to the recliner and forget walking…it just wasn’t happening. I was now on my crutches for my calf and not my knee.  The funny part is my knee felt great!

The week and weekend came and went with pain, lightheadedness, chest pain, and shortness of breath. My gosh, if I had known it was going to feel like this I just would’ve suffered with the torn meniscus. I was smart though in the midst of all of this, because I knew something was weird I downed a couple of aspirins a night just to help myself, as a little voice in my head kept telling me something wasn’t right. The second week presented with feeling as if someone was now sawing off my leg during the night, only to wake up with a fully swollen leg down to my ankle. The weirdness is that my leg didn’t even feel like it was mine anymore and attached.  I was extremely tired and could not even stay awake to watch TV the past few days. I called my doctor, cried once again, and begged for another ultrasound. My ultrasound appointed was made and I went in that afternoon after acting class only to be told to admit myself to the ER at once. What!? But I thought there was nothing wrong with me?? So, I turned myself in…I had a workup, EKG, and CT scan of my lungs.

***Breaking News*** Young woman has 8 clots (PEs-Pulmonary Embolisms) in her lungs caused by the DVT clot in her calf…caused by surgery, birth control…TBC***

What!? Did I hear you correct? Yes that is what happened. So I asked if I was going to die, and they said they needed to admit me ASAP, I wasn’t allowed to move so a clot didn’t block blood flow from my heart to my lungs, and the rest is history. 9 days in the hospital, Heparin, Coumadin, compression stockings, Morphine, laxatives, lots of flowers, and lots of pain. They say as of right now it was from surgery and medication I was taking (birth control). I was lucky, it was a miracle, and everyone from the ER docs to the physician assistants to the nurse and the techs said I was lucky to be here.  Really!? All I could say was “exactly how lucky was I? A minute…an hour, a day?” In reality, we just never know.  The next few months through the holidays were horrible. My blood was too thin, then too thick, then just right. Sometimes I'd cut myself and bleed without stop, other times bruises popped up and you'd think I was beaten. Coumadin made my body HURT all over and I was always colder than an eskimo without a coat! I couldn't comprehend good and I even forgot my own husbands name for a few minutes here and there! It is a rat poison drug that Coumadin, and my thinning hair proves it to be true, but it also was saving my life.

Read this site http://www.medicinenet.com/blood_clots/article.htm to learn more about clots and remember the signs and symptoms.  God had a plan for me…and it was to hang on. So I am here to tell my story and to scare you enough to listen to your body no matter what anyone else says!! It might seem that people think you’re paranoid at times, but if something isn’t right, just go in…otherwise you could be where I was…or you might not be that lucky!

Tell me your health scares at https://www.facebook.com/BaggageDrop and let me know if you have any advice on my now chronic condition of DVT. I am also here to give you non-expert advice too!! I have at least 15-20% chance for it to come back and I am still healing in my lungs and calf dealing with lung and leg pain, tiredness, and swelling.  Not a day goes by without fear of the unknown and panic, so I just thank God everyday I am still here to fulfill my mission on earth and reevaluate my purpose. Thank you for reading my story! What's yours??