My Wake Up Call

About 2 month ago, I got my “wake up call”. As I usually do every year I took a week of vacation to watch March Madness. See "March Madness and the KU Jayhawks". At the start of my vacation I was noticing some tightness and tenderness in my calf muscle below the knee. As the week went on and I was up and around running errands, the soreness went away. Then came Thursday of March Madness week and I sat around for four days watching college basketball. When I went back to work on Monday, I once again noticed the tightness and soreness. I thought it could be anything. Maybe it was a pulled or strained muscle. In the past, I had a history of inflamed arteries in that leg, but nothing serious and with antibiotics they always got better. In February, I was also diagnosed with a bronchial infection. As fate would have it, over a month later, I was still dealing with this infection. It just wouldn’t go away. On Monday I called my doctors’ to schedule a check up for Tuesday morning.

When taking a shower on Tuesday morning, I noticed that my right leg was swelled and much bigger and redder than my left leg. The doctor scheduled an x-ray to check out my lungs. Next I received a sonogram where they found a blood clot on the inside of my leg, above the knee. Next they scheduled a CT-Scan where they discovered that part of the clot had broken off and gone to my lungs. I had a pulmonary embolism.

I wouldn’t be going home that night. I would get an ambulance ride to the hospital where I would spend the next thee days. I would spend the next four weeks at home laying around with my legs elevated before I would go back to work.

Among the causes of blood clots also known as Deep Vein Thrombosis, DVT are prolonged sitting, such as during a long plane or car ride, prolonged bed rest or immobility, obesity, damage due to injury, and inherited blood conditions. Possibly my week of watching college basketball was not very good for me, although I am on my feet all day while at work. I am not the most active person when away from work and I will be the first to admit that I am overweight. I don’t recall injuring my leg; however I am always bumping it against something at home or at work. My dad also has a history of blood clots that started when he was about my age. I suppose the cause for my blood clot could be any combination of these.

The blood clot should dissolve on its own. There are things I can do to lessen my chances or to prevent another blood clot. Now, I will probably wearing support stockings or compression socks for the rest of my life. I will also be taking blood thinners such as coumadin or warfarin. My other big lifestyle change will include walking regularly to get exercise and stimulate circulation.

I guess that I am lucky to have gone to have gone to my doctor on that March morning and I am lucky to be alive. It could have been much worse. However it is something that I can live with. I can make changes to my lifestyle and life for a long time with this condition. Many people do. Getting in shape is something that I have put off for a long time. Now I have received my “wake up call”! Now, I know what I have to do!