Blood Clots- How it felt
I have blood clots. It started with a pain in my calf in April 2009. The pain felt like a cramp in my calf that wouldn’t go away. I had that pain for about 2 weeks before I decided to go to the doctor.
Since I had just moved back to my hometown about 2 months before, I had to find a new doctor to go to. Once I was able to find a doctor in the area that was accepting new patients, they took x-rays of the leg. The diagnosis was a stress fracture in the ankle. I had mentioned to the doctor of my concerns with my legs. They do swell and I did were some sort of compression stocking to keep the swelling down. I told the doctor that I was concerned it may be a blood clot.
I was given a pain medication, was told if still hurts after 3 days that they would schedule an ultrasound of the leg to make sure there wasn’t a blood clot. After the 3 days the pain was still there, just not as bad. They scheduled an ultrasound of the leg. The doctors appointment started on a Tuesday and by the next Tuesday the ultrasound was scheduled were they found blood clots.
The blood clots were in my left leg in two different veins. The one vein had one big clot in it; the other vein had small clots from the calf to the growing area. I went to the emergency room for the lovenox shots. I spent 3 hours in the emergency room expecting to be admitted because of the insurance company. Instead was released with 1 shot of lovenox in me and a prescription for coumadin. Spent one day, then was having chest pains. I called the doctor who told me to go back to the emergency room.
I revisited the emergency room, where a cat scan showed blood clots in my lung. Now I was admitted to the hospital where I had to spend Wed, Thurs, and went home Thurs night. I was now therapeutic on the PT (pro-time), the insurance company kicked me out of the hospital.
From there everything went fine. I went home, continued the coumadin, and kept good PT level for 6 months. After the 6 months were over, I was so excited that I could go out and have fun again. Then December hit.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
My blood clots
My Blood Clot Blog
Blood clots, why I have them and why they will always be apart of my life. Blood clots, in my legs and lungs. The first blood clots were found in April 2009. The blood clots started in my left leg in two different veins. The blood clots then found there way to my lung, not sure what side. My understanding was it was a big blood clot.
How was the treatment of blood clots? It first started with 5days of lovenox shots, which thins the blood faster, followed with the wonderful coumadin pill everyday. Then it’s regular visits to an anti-coagulation clinic for prothrombin time (PT) tests. This tests how the blood clots in your body. Usually it’s around 0.9-1.1 for normal people. For me it needs to be around 2.2-2.5.
With blood clots, they go away on there own, when the blood is thin enough the blood clots will disintegrate. This is way blood clots are so dangerous. There is no surgery to remove blood clots. When the blood clots gets to the lungs its not that far from the heart and possibly the head. When the blood clots gets to the lungs it is important to get your PT level therapeutic.
For me, the first blood clots were a hospital stay for 1.5 days due to the fact of having chest pains while taking the shots of lovenox. Chest pains are a good sign that something else has gone wrong. That’s when the trip to the emergency room found the blood clots had traveled to the lung. Good thing for me the stay wasn’t that long due to taking the shots and pills started ahead of time. It was a scary and upsetting conversation with the doctor when they told me about the blood clots. After all I was only 31.
Everything after that went well. I stayed with walking the dog a mile or more everyday, cut out the deep fried foods, tried to eat healthier, and was conscious of what had happened in my life. For 6 months, I watched what I did in my life. Then in November 13, 2009, the doctor took me off the coumadin.
Then the chest pains started again. December 10, 2009, I had a terrible sore throat that caused a lot of coughing. I went to the doctor where he prescribed medication to help with the sore throat. Later that night, I was having chest pains all the way across the chest. The next day, I woke up my mother who took me to the emergency room. There they sent me through the cat scan were they found blood clots in the lungs, again. This time it was more time in the hospital. They need to get me back to a therapeutic PT level to get the blood clots to disintegrate. Shots of lovenox started again with coumadin pills.
What makes this time more scary. They had done some blood test on me from the first time. It showed I have to different strands of disposition to blood clots. The tests show a Factor V Leiden and Prothrombin g20210a mutation. These are blood dispositions that are carried down from your parents. This increases my chances for blood clots by 10 times more than the normal person does. From what I know, no one in my family has had blood clots.
So here I am, writing this blog about my blood clots. Now I know I will be on blood thinner the rest of my life. Plus, I will have to talk to my ob-gyn about getting this fibroid removed. The doctors treating me now for the blood clots think the fibroid might have caused these blood clots. We will have to see what happens from there. Good thing I have insurance, and that this second visit for blood clots should be 100% covered.
Blood clots, why I have them and why they will always be apart of my life. Blood clots, in my legs and lungs. The first blood clots were found in April 2009. The blood clots started in my left leg in two different veins. The blood clots then found there way to my lung, not sure what side. My understanding was it was a big blood clot.
How was the treatment of blood clots? It first started with 5days of lovenox shots, which thins the blood faster, followed with the wonderful coumadin pill everyday. Then it’s regular visits to an anti-coagulation clinic for prothrombin time (PT) tests. This tests how the blood clots in your body. Usually it’s around 0.9-1.1 for normal people. For me it needs to be around 2.2-2.5.
With blood clots, they go away on there own, when the blood is thin enough the blood clots will disintegrate. This is way blood clots are so dangerous. There is no surgery to remove blood clots. When the blood clots gets to the lungs its not that far from the heart and possibly the head. When the blood clots gets to the lungs it is important to get your PT level therapeutic.
For me, the first blood clots were a hospital stay for 1.5 days due to the fact of having chest pains while taking the shots of lovenox. Chest pains are a good sign that something else has gone wrong. That’s when the trip to the emergency room found the blood clots had traveled to the lung. Good thing for me the stay wasn’t that long due to taking the shots and pills started ahead of time. It was a scary and upsetting conversation with the doctor when they told me about the blood clots. After all I was only 31.
Everything after that went well. I stayed with walking the dog a mile or more everyday, cut out the deep fried foods, tried to eat healthier, and was conscious of what had happened in my life. For 6 months, I watched what I did in my life. Then in November 13, 2009, the doctor took me off the coumadin.
Then the chest pains started again. December 10, 2009, I had a terrible sore throat that caused a lot of coughing. I went to the doctor where he prescribed medication to help with the sore throat. Later that night, I was having chest pains all the way across the chest. The next day, I woke up my mother who took me to the emergency room. There they sent me through the cat scan were they found blood clots in the lungs, again. This time it was more time in the hospital. They need to get me back to a therapeutic PT level to get the blood clots to disintegrate. Shots of lovenox started again with coumadin pills.
What makes this time more scary. They had done some blood test on me from the first time. It showed I have to different strands of disposition to blood clots. The tests show a Factor V Leiden and Prothrombin g20210a mutation. These are blood dispositions that are carried down from your parents. This increases my chances for blood clots by 10 times more than the normal person does. From what I know, no one in my family has had blood clots.
So here I am, writing this blog about my blood clots. Now I know I will be on blood thinner the rest of my life. Plus, I will have to talk to my ob-gyn about getting this fibroid removed. The doctors treating me now for the blood clots think the fibroid might have caused these blood clots. We will have to see what happens from there. Good thing I have insurance, and that this second visit for blood clots should be 100% covered.
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