Off to the States… perhaps not

Tomorrow we will be off to the States on another fabulous trip to see family and friends. Well, we would have been at least had I not gone to see my chiropractor. “But a chiropractor just cracks your bones, don’t they? How can that stop you flying?”, you may very well ask. And a wholesome couple of questions they would be, too.

OK, so the full story goes something like this…

A number of weeks ago my left calf started to ache. You know that dull aching feeling you get after a really back cramp in your calf muscle? It was something like that but all the time – especially after I had been sitting for a while. I just dismissed it at the time thinking I had just cramped up during the night and my muscle was just having a pity-party. Then last week I had some breathing problems… Not actually breathing, but when I took a full intake of air I would get a pain in what felt like the area just belong my left shoulder blade. When I let the air out the pain went away. This was a slight cause for concern but as I also felt uncomfortable when turning my upper body I put it down to my bad posture and figured I needed an adjustment from the chiropractor. This was strengthened in my mind because the breathing pain went away in a few days, but I figured ‘what the Hell’, and booked in to see the chiropractor anyway.

So on Wednesday I had an appointment with her, and as it was my first session there I was answering the general questions about my health and well-being. I happened to mention about my calf and she refused to adjust me until I had seen the doctor, which she recommended I do straight away because the calf and the breathing my have been related.

OK, fine!

Now I’m booking an appointment to see the doctor on Thursday, which is right after work. The doctor sees me and refers my immediately to A&E (Accident & Emergency, or ER to our American friends) to get checked out ‘just in case’. He suspected I might have Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and had a possible Pulmonary Embolism (PE). Oh boy!

Straight after I came out of the doctors, Lisa picked me up and we drove in to Brighton where A&E is, this was at about 6:15pm. We got out of there just after midnight after me having an x-ray, a leg scan, a slight telling off by the doctor about my weight, and two injections in the stomach. I was told I had to go back the next day for an ultrascan on my leg.

So here it is, Friday. We’re meant to be packing for our trip and cleaning the house. Instead, I’ve been to the hospital and have been told that I have a blood clot in my left leg just behind the knee. When I found this out Lisa was a few hours drive away handing the dogs over to my sister to keep while we were away. Needless to say she brought the dogs back straight away because there was no way I could fly… unless I wanted to risk making it my last flight ever, of course! (And that whole ‘being dead’ thing really puts a dampner on a holiday.)

My dad turned up at the ultrasound place before I found out the news, which was really nice and a great comfort to me.

So the outcome is that we canceled our flights as I’m not allowed to travel for about six weeks. I’m off sick for the next week or so for fear of breaking off some of the clot and it causing complications. I was put on a course of warfarin (I seemed the last person in the world to know that it is actually used as rat poison!!), and I also have to inject myself with a couple needles in my stomach every night for a week or more. That’s going to be so much fun… Yeah, can’t wait for that.

Oh, and one more thing. I thought mother-in-laws were meant to be vicious witches to the husband, but I want to dispel that myth. Mine’s wonderful! On hearing of our trip being canceled, the blood clot, and Lisa not being able to go home, she’s flying over here on Monday to bring home to Lisa!

OK.. Time for the injection. Joy!


Posted

in

,

by

Tags:

Comments

3 responses to “Off to the States… perhaps not”

  1. Mike250 Avatar
    Mike250

    I don’t know what to say mate! =( Good thing you found out now… yes… a shame that the trip is off… yes… but mate, do take good care of yourself and get this thing nipped. We’ll be thinking of you.

  2. Andy Avatar

    Cheers, mate!

  3. corinne.yee Avatar
    corinne.yee

    So sorry to hear about the clot! They’re no fun. My friend had problems with one since surgery a few years ago, so I know second-hand what a pain it is. Thank goodness they caught it, though. Hope you can reschedule your trip soon!

Leave a Reply