Marriage License by Norman Rockwell
Click the picture for an unonbstructed view
Source: Art.com
Featured:

CC's Random Thoughts
Franklin, TN, USA Manila, Philippines

           Temperature:

As of :           

           Temperature:

As of :           
Click for Franklin, Tennessee Forecast Click for Manila, Philippines Forecast

Background pictures illustrate current weather conditions

               CC's Tweets


Monday, August 03, 2009

Update

Current Mood:
CC is listening to: Nothing right now

The last few weeks have definitely been busy :-). I was in Manila for about three weeks, almost the entire month of July, and things are always a little crazier in Manila. But that's not the biggest part of my update.

On my flight back, I had the fortune of getting upgraded to business class all the way home, which was awesome because I was a little extra sleepy during this particular return leg.

Fast forward to my landing in the US (this trip's port of entry was Detroit). It was a 12 hour flight, and I spent half of it sleeping. I was really comfortable. When I got up to get my luggage though, I had this strange "the-beginning-of-a-leg-cramp" pain in my left calf. I figured I must have slept wrong or something. I figured, "That's okay, making the trek through immigrations and customs will work the kink out."

It didn't. As a matter of fact, it didn't go away for a few days. I got home Thursday afternoon, and Saturday morning I still had it. That's when I started to worry that it might be DVT (Deep Vein Thrombosis--or in layman's terms, a blood clot in your leg). I looked up DVT on the web, and I found a webpage that described how another woman (31 years old) was going through exactly the same thing: the cramping leg, but the absence of the other symptoms...and it still turned out to be DVT.

After I read that I woke Steve up and said, "After breakfast, can we go to the minor medical center?"

So we went to the minor medical center for my first diagnosis. After the doctor heard that I just came back from a long flight and had the cramping feeling, although she said the swelling was not as much as it would typically be for DVT, she felt it would be best for me to go ahead and head for the ER to get myself further evaluated for DVT. Further evaluation required an ultrasound, which the minor medical center did not have.

So off we go to the hospital. This was about 9:30am. Looking back, I'm so glad we went first thing in the morning. There were hardly any patients in both the minor medical center and the ER.

After about a 15 minute wait, I got looked at by an ER nurse, who then transferred me to a bed in the ER. While waiting, we took the opportunity for pictures :-).

Then the doctor came by and took a closer look at my leg. After examining me she said, "Okay, let's get you scheduled for an ultrasound and take a closer look at it. Sometimes it's not a DVT and just a little swollen." The way she said it though, it seemed like she felt it was DVT.

A few minutes later I get wheeled out to Radiology (I felt SOO guilty because the lady that was pushing and maneuvering my bed was much older than I was). I had my entire left leg scanned, and the radiologist said that she took some great pictures but can't really discuss the results. She wheeled my bed all the way back to the ER.

So Steve and I waited for another 15 minutes or so until the ER nurse comes in and says, "I've got great news for you! It's not a clot, the ultrasound was clear." I replied, "Oh that's such a relief! I was almost sure that it was." That's when the nurse said that she and the doctor were thinking it was, too, just based on all the circumstances. We were all glad that the ultrasound results proved us wrong.

I get a prescription for the pain, and was told to follow up with my GP after a couple of days. As I was limping out of the ER, the nurse asked me, "Do you want a wheelchair?" and I replied, "Hey, it's not a clot. I'm more than happy to be walking out of here."

Fast forward to a week later: pain's gone, but I'm still seeing my GP tomorrow for one last check. My GP thinks I tore my plantaris muscle, and I'm not really sure if that is what happened, but right now I'm just more focused on what it's not rather than what it is :-).

Labels: ,



Posted by Unknown | 6:25 AM | 2 Comments |
Write or read comments about this entry