Where we left off in the last blog post of four months ago, I saw my kidney guy. My numbers were elevated, and I wanted to try some things before other interventions were necessary, and wanted to re-run the labs. All reasonable.
On December 5th I went to Quest for the 3 month follow up labs; however, for 6 days solid prior to the 5th, I had been experiencing what I thought was a charley horse cramp in my thigh. Over the course of the 6 days, it shifted to behind the knee, and ended up in the back of my leg, mid-calf. The pain was unrelenting, but manageable. And for 5 of the 6 days I treated it as I would any leg cramp: I blasted it with my Theragun, I iced it, and the last 2 days I chewed a baby aspirin.
So, after I had my blood drawn at the lab, I called the primary care my new gyno highly recommended to me. I tried to get an in office appointment, and none were available, but a video appt was available. It became increasingly more obvious to me that I needed to get my leg checked out and a video appointment was not going to accomplish much. I then headed to urgent care.
When I arrived at urgent care, I efficiently summed up that I was 17 months post op from a total hip replacement, I was hypertensive, I carried the gene for Factor Five Leiden Mutation, and I have had a cramp in my leg for 6 days, and though I hoped it was just a cramp, I was concerned it was a DVT. Urgent care waved me off, and recommended I go to the ER, as they don't have the ultrasound needed to rule out the DVT.
I arrived at the ER at 9:30 a.m. I was lulled into a false sense of security as there were only 3 other people waiting. When they called my name and I walked through the double doors, I was crestfallen when I saw SEVENTY-FIVE people in the ER. They put me on a gurney in the hallway with a clear view of the entrance where EMTs bring people in via ambulance. More and more people came in, and thus, I saw the ER nurse less and less, once per hour, if that.
The RN would ask questions, then disappear for an hour. Return. Ask more. Disappear. Lather, rinse, repeat. "Want a tylenol?" was met with me replying "that won't do anything, please give me a Flexeril, if possible." Another hour went by. Finally got the Flexeril and a bit of water, which was the only thing I had taken by mouth all day, as I went to the ER right after going to the lab, where I went for a FASTING blood test.
Then the ER attending showed up, asked me some questions. I replied with the same script I gave the RN. Another hour went by. Then an ultrasound was performed. Another hour went by, before the ER attending gave me the verdict, that my fear was confirmed, it was in fact a DVT. Another hour went by. Then I was administered Eliquis. And another hour went by before I was released. By this time it was 6:30 p.m. NINE HOURS LATER.
I was told to pick up my Rx at the in-house pharmacy--roughly 1000 foot steps from the ER, only for me to hoof it back to the ER as I parked in the ER parking lot.
I promptly got back home when it felt as if every fiber in my body spasmed at once, with my fingers and toes cramping into scary and unnatural contortions. I have had gastric bypass, and a total hip replacement, and a dodgey root canal that caused my tooth to explode when they tried to extract it--NONE of that shit was as painful as these terrifying cramps. They jarred and worried Maharajah to the point of suggesting he take me back to the ER. I begged him to dig through our household "rainy day" stash of extra Rx meds, to see if there was an expired flexeril in the bunch. Sadly I had to make do with a hydrocodone--at least it knocked me out. It got the job done.
As I was in-between my former primary care and finding a new one, I tried the office of the doctor my gyno recommended, and sadly THAT primary was not available, but I managed to see her associate. TBH I was not expecting much from the appointment. He wasn't the doctor recommended to me, and this was now a totally different situation than a comparatively casual initial consultation wherein I was super prepared and focused. In this case, I was lucky I had the presence of mind to provide my hematology work up paperwork from 2021, and showed up, in agonizing pain, distracted, unfocused.
"We're going to get through this together," he replied. TBH, I don't know how I managed to hear those words and not burst into tears; however it would be several days later before the shock of the DVT diagnosis finally set in and I was able to finally feel my feelings, and sob in sadness, terror, and feelings of failure frothed at the surface. "What didn't I do?" I kept asking myself. I had all these surgical interventions, and lifestyle changes, and try to keep moving and make smarter choices--hell--ANY CHOICES, and yet, here I am wondering if the tipping point has been met and I'm going to slide down the slippery slope and become my mother.
Now for the absurdity--the first appointment I managed to make in my barely functional fog of shock was the hematologist my primary care wants me to see for an evaluation. THE EARLIEST APPOINTMENT IS MARCH. Although my initial response to this has been just shock and disappointment and worry, the hematologist appears to be "of a certain vintage," and might very well be the Dr. F., in hematology.
Next appointment I set up was cardiology. I had an appointment on the books for January 8th, but now that this recent diagnosis popped up, I don't want to be trucking into NYC for all the follow ups etc. So I asked my existing cardiologist if I should come in for that appointment and schedule the TTE which was mentioned during my last visit, or should I just go see the cardiologist in the same group as the primary care and the hematologist. My cardiologist said everything with my heart is fine and stable and I can wait until February to see the new cardiologist local to me.
I looped my orthopedic surgeon in on everything, and he seemed perplexed by it all, despite the fact even a preliminary search online shows that patients post-op from joint replacement have like a 10-20% risk of developing a clot. I am not sure what to think of this, but he did state how I did not mention the leg cramps. I said I thought the cramps started after last visit (July--5 months ago), but I know for a fact I mentioned a dull ache deep in my groin.
Hindsight is always 20/20, and of course, I was raised not to feel my feelings, so it has been quite the process for me to even know what I am feeling now, but early on, I was literally in shock this was happening and worried about a stroke lurking in the shadows. However, in hindsight I do remember having horrible leg cramps, but they were a rarity, and usually only happened when I spent an entire day in NYC walking about 10,000 foot steps in between and after appointments. I'd come home and think it was just my electrolytes out of whack and I'd eat a banana or drink some coconut water and the cramps would dissipate. How was I supposed to know that I was in danger?
Hematology in March and cardiology in February notwithstanding, the first appointment with a specialist is tomorrow, when I see both, my primary care doctor first thing in the morning, and then I see the vascular specialist. I am hoping the latter will have some answers for me, but from what I can determine from what I've read, and while I don't know if I'll be on the Eliquis for the rest of my life, at a minimum I will be on it for 3-6 months.
Now regarding the title of this post, the brighter side, if there is a bright side to having a DVT--I remembered that my grandmother had a stroke and fell down a flight of stairs, and roughly my age (+/-) when this happened. So, my dvt could have been or had a worse outcome. But I'm still in pain and worried every day that I'll have another horrible painful cramp, and worried about a stroke, and what all this ultimately means for the quality and length of my life.
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