Last Friday (8th of July) I went to the Ottawa Civic Hospital for my final ultra sound. The technician took forever to do the test. She took good 10 minutes, and previously it wouldn’t even take 5 minutes to perform. This time it was painful as well. I asked her if there was still a blood clot there, in her opinion. I told her that I understood she wasn’t a doctor, but I just wanted to know what she thought. She said that it was probably almost gone. Few minutes after, I went to the thrombosis department, where I had an appointment with my doctor. As soon as I arrived there, there was an intern who made me fill out the research questionnaire. After, the doctor’s assistant came in and he told me that I have done a really good job in taking medication and doing my exercises, so they will allow me now to stop the medication as the blood clot is at its minimum and it’s not life-threatening any more.
For the next month I have to be vigilant though, as there is a possibility of it coming back. The doctor explained that once I was diagnosed with the blood clot, it’s more likely to reoccur, specifically in case I am operated. So if I will need a surgery, I would need to get in touch with them. At the end my specialist came in. He was very happy to see that I’ve done everything they advised me and that now I am on my way to full recovery. He said that it’s wonderful to see that they managed to help me and to see me healthy and doing well. He said it was one of his biggest rewards to witness people recovering and getting back to their normal lives.
I came out of there and as I was walking down those hospital halls, I felt such a huge relieve and a feeling of victory and exhilaration. It was like a survivor’s pride!
Patricia, I saw this after you followed me on twitter, but as I have not really started using twitter properly, and could not find you quickly on Facebook, I thought I would respond here. As someone with several DVTs, which have come back at times over the years, and now being on anti-coagulants for life, congratulations on getting through this. I want to start sharing some experiences I have with clots as I think so man people feel alone and ill informed when they get them, so any blog like yours is a good thing Good luck, Malcolm S.
ReplyDeleteLots of thanks for this comment and for your congrats. I really appreciate it, as it was truly an effort to go though all this. But after reading your comment my experience seems so insignificant comparing to you...
ReplyDeleteOne of the aims of my blog is to connect and help others, who are having similar experiences and I absolutely agree with your point that there are many people ill-informed and left alone with their problem. Please, share your story and how you overcome it on a daily basis. I'll be happy to read and share it!
DVT in left thigh in my 20s after I broke my other leg. Then 20+ years later I got more clots behind my knee, probably from sitting too long at pcs and the like at work. Went back on to warfarin (Coumadin) and then got another dvt in my calf even whilst on that, so had my INR target raised and now on warfarin for life as well as a sexy black full leg stocking on a daily basis! I have to have my dvt leg elevated whenever I am sitting down and though I can walk normally I cannot stand still on it for more than a couple of minutes without it starting to clog up. But I am just used to it I guess. It messed up my career a bit in the health service here, but working too many hours was a good thing to stop anyway. Sharing is good though - I joined a couple of online groups when I got the last ones 3 years ago, and part of aiming for twitter world was to share things more, but thus far I have only done so through your blog. This week's effort to overcome the restrictions from the clot has been to start a running regime through an app in my Iphone - well running is rather a grand word, but I can hardly move this morning after the 3rd go at it yesterday, but hopefully all those aches and pains are a good thing for the longer term. All the best - malcolm
ReplyDeleteWow... it has not been ease for you, you can be sure I understand what you are going through it is not easy at all, it takes courage and determination. It seems like you have both strength.
ReplyDeleteHave a great day ahead