Blood clot

After a long weekend of resting from my trip to Guatemala, especially since I had a head cold, I returned to work on Monday. While I was in Guatemala our principal and guidance counselor had rearranged our schedules. They were nice enough to give me the morning to do lesson planning and rescheduling before I pulled kiddos. As I sat at my desk trying to figure out what to do next I noticed my leg hurt. I put it off as just being achy from having a cold and possibly a fever.

Tuesday night we had a Veteran's Day program at school so I stayed late and Perry and Vincent joined me. Again my leg hurt, but as long as I walked around (with a slight limp) and didn't sit too long I felt better.

By Wednesday night I knew something was really wrong with my leg. The pain had been getting worse over the course of the week and as I thought back the pain had really started Friday night/Saturday morning. I had tried staying off of it, trying to walk it out, and even taken aspirin. The aspirin seemed to help some, but the nagging pain just wouldn't go away.

Thursday Perry called our doctor. The receptionist talked to Perry about my symptoms and made an immediate appointment. He explained that I had been on a long flight to and from Guatemala--five hours each way-- take birth control and have historically high cholesterol. She thought I might have a blood clot. Luckily, I have a great principal who let me leave work early Thursday to go to the doctors. Sure enough when I went in and spoke to Dr. Haney he was convinced that it was a blood clot and made an appointment for that night at Baptist East Hospital.

The picture above is me registering for the Doppler sonogram at Baptist East. Alicia did my sonogram once we were in the room, but not before she complimented me on my matching shoes and purse (got them in Guatemala).

Alicia first did my right leg to get a baseline even though several years ago I had ruptured my calf muscle in my right leg and so it actually isn't/wasn't my good leg. When she did my left leg she went down the entire leg. When she got to my calf she kept going over and over a particular spot (the most painful spot). She had earlier told us that she couldn't tell us her findings, she would have to give them to the doctor first. She did say that Dr. Haney had given her instructions to call if she found anything significant. At the end of the sonogram she said I could get dressed but I couldn't leave. She needed to make a phone call.

After a rather lengthy wait, Alicia returned to say that I was to go home, stay off my leg, and keep it elevated. I was to return on Monday morning for a second sonogram. Yes, I had a blood clot, but it was not in the deep veins. If it would have been more severe I would have to be admitted and put on blood thinners immediately. I was lucky. On Monday they would be checking to see if the blood clot had moved or changed in any way. If the blood clot moved it could go to my heart, lungs, or brain with pretty serious consequences.

Monday morning came early. Perry drove me to my appointment back at Baptist East. A vascular tech student did my sonogram this time. She was very thorough and willing to show us and explain stuff to us. She said I already knew that I had a blood clot and what kind so she wasn't really telling me any new information. When she was finished she had a vascular tech confirm her findings.

She explained that the veins when pressed will contract. If there is a blood clot they can't contract. Here I believe she is showing us how my upper thigh veins are collapsing the way they are supposed to.

Perry found all of this fascinating, especially since he wasn't there for the ultrasounds with Vincent. The tech student and I agreed that it is much more interesting when you get to see a baby instead of just veins.

She was able to confirm that there was no change in my blood clot, but she did say that there were two blood clots, not just one. They were in the distal/mid calf and go all the way to my ankle. The pain I feel is the blood pooling and pushing on the clot.

After all the testing more calls were made to my doctor to find out what the next step would be. Dr. Haney said I was to continue to stay off my leg, take an adult strength aspirin every day, keep my leg elevated when I'm sitting, and for pain take Darvocet. When I asked about interactions with my other prescriptions I had to talk to my specialist.

I returned to work on Wednesday after calling Dr. Stokes. She confirmed that I can't take Ponstel and aspirin at the same time, but I can still take birth control to keep my Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome in check.

The techs said that calf vein blood clots will go away with time. The aspirin should help since it thins the blood. It will also help with the pain. I've since tried to ween myself from the Darvocet. I first started to only take it at night and now I've essentially gone the whole weekend without it (except Friday night when the chairs at the play were killing me). I don't like depending on pain pills, but if I need it at least I have it. The techs said that the blood clot could go away in a month to six weeks or even longer, but the severity should lessen over time.

--- Stephanie