It all Started January 29th...

It all started January 29th with a comment on FB "feelin' a little achey today..." That was the start a fever and a 17 day ordeal with blood clots. I have a varicose veins on the side of my right knee which normally do not cause me any pain. A few days after the fever I was feeling some pain. I Thought maybe during the night when I was down and out with the fever I hit my leg on something, no big deal! So, to recap Saturday the 29th through Tuesday the 1st I was dealing with my fever and Wednesday is when my knee started to hurt. The following Saturday the family all went for a bike ride. That night I started to experience pain in my quad. Sunday we watched the Packers win the Superbowl! and a couple days later seeing as how the pain wasn't going away, and the 24 hour nurse thought it would be wise for me to see a doctor, I made an appointment to see my doctor.

The appointment was set for 3pm on Tuesday but since I was kinda worried I went in around 11am hoping they could see me early. They did and my doctor said she thought it was a blood clot causing me some pain but the location didn't seem to worry her. So she sent me to a specialist to get an ultra sound and just get things checked out. This is when they found a DVT or deep vein clot behind me knee. This was cause for alarm! Since the office I was at didn't have a doctor on duty I needed to travel south to Sandy Springs. Once there I spoke with the PA. She told me to hang tight while she got the doc. My new doctor comes in and says we need to get you in the hospital. We also need to place a filter in your vena cava!

So into the hospital I went. The first night they did a CT scan of my chest to see if I have/had any clots in my chest. Sure enough I did! they think it was part of the clot in my leg which had broken off. They also think that the fever I experienced was from the clots in my chest. The next day they put the filter in and I was put on anti coagulants. The procedure was pretty easy and I was a wake for the whole thing. So for the time being I'm going to be on drugs that will keep my blood from clotting and hopefully after 6 months I won't need to take them any more!

All in all I spent 6 night and 7 days in the hospital! This was my first time ever in the hospital! I have to thank the National Geographic channels show Hard Time. They taught me that you have to have a routine to get through the time. So mornings were filled with reading magazines and news papers while nights were filled with a little Tv watching and visit from my family whom I love very much!!!

Thanks for reading and here's to better health in 2011.