"So...are you dying?"
The above line was said to me by Jeffy as a complete joke as I called him from the chiropractor's office concerning an alleged muscle ache in my right calf. Little did I know , that what was wrong with me was more than a simple calf pain.
While Jeff and I drove to California, I gotta be honest and say we didn't stop a lot. We were excited to start a new life together, therefore; stopping and enjoying the view or stopping to stretch at each rest stop really wasn't on our minds. And, to make matters worse, only one hotel has a workout center that I avoided like the plague because I was always so exhausted from the day's drive. All these random facts lead up to something, I promise!
The drive from Las Vegas to California was short...only about 3 1/2 hours. Since Jeff did a lot of the difficult driving through the Rocky Mountains the day earlier, I thought I'd give him a break and drive the entire distance. About two hours into the drive, I got an AMAZING sharp pain in my right calf. It felt like a "Charlie Horse" on heroine. Very intense. It freaked my shit out! I rarely get "Charlie Horses" and to get one while driving 90 mph is not okay in my book.
The pain never went away for days. There were moments when I could walk with only a slight limp, but the pain was always a reminder that something was wrong. On Saturday, my right thigh went numb and I finally cried. The pain was too intense, but since I truly believed it was something a chiropractor could deal with, I waited out the weekend to make a doctor's appointment. Jeff would massage the area (bad idea as I found out later) and he said my calf felt like a bunch of rocks. I was hopeful that my favorite doctor in the whole world (my chiropractor Dr. Smith) would patch me up and I could start going back to the gym cause I feel like a flabby disaster.
When I went in to see Dr. Smith and discussed when the pain started, what it felt like, etc...he looked concerned. He's always so jovial and easygoing...watching his face really concerned me. It reminded me of countless plane rides with massive turbulance. You don't watch the passengers around you or how the plane moves and shakes...you watch the faces of the flight attendants as your cue to how bad things really are. He was my flight attendant and his facial expression made my tummy turn.
"Kelley, I don't want to alarm you, but I really think you need to go to the emergency room. I think you may have a blood clot in one of the veins in your calf. You've been traveling a lot lately and you've been on birth control for 8 years. This is not a good combination." Here is a man that, in many ways, looks for alternatives to Western Medicine and HE was telling me to go to the emergency room. *FUCK*
"Are you serious?!?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I got a shiver that started at the tip of my spine and shot into my already hurting tummy. Jeff and I went on countless websites trying to figure out the cause of the pain: pinched nerve, torn muscle, torn ligament, etc...Never ONCE did we think it was something so serious.
So that brings me to the infamous call to Jeff. We were supposed to go to a movie that night. Guess we were going to miss it. What was he going to say? How was he going to react? Here we are trying to start a new life together and this happens. We've already been faced with several obstacles, what more could happen in a mere 10 days?!?!
"So...are you dying?" You could tell Jeff was smiling as the sarcasm flowed from his mouth to my ear. I paused a moment and said, "I have to go to the emergency room."
Stunned silence.
"I'm going to come get you okay?" My voice was cracking.
"Okay" We didn't say much else. I told him that Dr. Smith that it was a blood clot and we needed to go NOW.
We waited for a while. Are you shocked? I think that's why they make emergency rooms. So you can prolong suffering. Do you know at a Los Angeles hospital, a woman died, collapsed on the floor, waiting to be seen by a doctor in the Emergency Room?
Eventually, they took blood and I calmed down. Jeff and I were joking around, reading magazines, talking on the phone as if this was only going to be a quick trip to the Emergency room. They brought us in the back and we had our own room. We played "Phase Ten" for about an hour when they told me that I had to get an utlrasound on my leg because the bloodwork implied that I had a blood clot. I started getting a little nervous.
The ultrasound was really cool; more importantly, the woman running the ultrasound machine was even cooler. She was a single mom on call at night. Her son was in a little room next door playing games on the computer. I think I was the only reason why she had to come in that night. She taught me so much about blood clots in a very short amount of time. And then she told me the bad news (even though she wasn't supposed to)...I had a blood clot called a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). It was about 5 inches in length. She let me look at the machine and even hold the stick that pushes on my skin!
About an hour after the ultrasound, the emergency room doctor who had NO BEDSIDE MANNER told me I had to be admitted. I was in shock. We stopped playing cards and I finally cried. I immediately had Jeff call my family because I knew they would want to know if I actually was admitted to a hospital. As Jeff was outside, Dr. No Bedside Manner came in and asked what I was so afraid of...
This is what I wanted to say: "Well, you've spent a total of 3 minutes with me while I've been here 5 hours and you cut me off while I'm talking and you don't ask me if I have any questions and you tell me my blood clot is not a big deal but you're admitting to a hospital for at least a couple days and I hate your scrubs. Blue is not your color.
But this is what I said: "I just can't believe I'm being admitted to the hospital. I just can't believe this is happening." He didn't respond. He just walked away.
Next a Cardiologist came to visit. She was great. She educated Jeff and I on what happened and why it probably happened. It turns out that I may have thick blood. and therefore, are prone to blood clots. Things like birth control and sitting sedintary for long periods of time (one hour or more) cause this thick blood to clot. She explained that because my bloodclot was below the knee, she didn't feel I needed to be admitted. However, my at-home care proved to be intense.
Jeff gives me four shots a day in my stomach. Yes, Jeff Garris has to give me injections and he's great at it!!!! I also take a blood thinning medicine at night. I'm never to be on birth control again. I have to "take it easy" but "walk frequently" and I can't ride a bull or play with swords, razors, scissors, knives, large machine tools, gardening utensils, and...well you get the picture.
The injections give me a nonstop minor headache and they make me sleepy. Nothing I can't handle...just annoying. And I can't take any pain relievers because they mess with my blood thinning meds. Oh! and I can't eat anything that has loads of Vitamin K...that leaves out all green, leafy vegetables...I'm SO BUMMED I won't have to have salad everyday!!! I LOVE RAW VEGETABLES!!! he he he :)
I want to take a moment to thank Jeff. Through all of this you have been nothing short of amazing. I can't imagine doing this alone. Even moreso, I can't imagine doing this without you.
Love to you all,
Kelley :)
While Jeff and I drove to California, I gotta be honest and say we didn't stop a lot. We were excited to start a new life together, therefore; stopping and enjoying the view or stopping to stretch at each rest stop really wasn't on our minds. And, to make matters worse, only one hotel has a workout center that I avoided like the plague because I was always so exhausted from the day's drive. All these random facts lead up to something, I promise!
The drive from Las Vegas to California was short...only about 3 1/2 hours. Since Jeff did a lot of the difficult driving through the Rocky Mountains the day earlier, I thought I'd give him a break and drive the entire distance. About two hours into the drive, I got an AMAZING sharp pain in my right calf. It felt like a "Charlie Horse" on heroine. Very intense. It freaked my shit out! I rarely get "Charlie Horses" and to get one while driving 90 mph is not okay in my book.
The pain never went away for days. There were moments when I could walk with only a slight limp, but the pain was always a reminder that something was wrong. On Saturday, my right thigh went numb and I finally cried. The pain was too intense, but since I truly believed it was something a chiropractor could deal with, I waited out the weekend to make a doctor's appointment. Jeff would massage the area (bad idea as I found out later) and he said my calf felt like a bunch of rocks. I was hopeful that my favorite doctor in the whole world (my chiropractor Dr. Smith) would patch me up and I could start going back to the gym cause I feel like a flabby disaster.
When I went in to see Dr. Smith and discussed when the pain started, what it felt like, etc...he looked concerned. He's always so jovial and easygoing...watching his face really concerned me. It reminded me of countless plane rides with massive turbulance. You don't watch the passengers around you or how the plane moves and shakes...you watch the faces of the flight attendants as your cue to how bad things really are. He was my flight attendant and his facial expression made my tummy turn.
"Kelley, I don't want to alarm you, but I really think you need to go to the emergency room. I think you may have a blood clot in one of the veins in your calf. You've been traveling a lot lately and you've been on birth control for 8 years. This is not a good combination." Here is a man that, in many ways, looks for alternatives to Western Medicine and HE was telling me to go to the emergency room. *FUCK*
"Are you serious?!?!" I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I got a shiver that started at the tip of my spine and shot into my already hurting tummy. Jeff and I went on countless websites trying to figure out the cause of the pain: pinched nerve, torn muscle, torn ligament, etc...Never ONCE did we think it was something so serious.
So that brings me to the infamous call to Jeff. We were supposed to go to a movie that night. Guess we were going to miss it. What was he going to say? How was he going to react? Here we are trying to start a new life together and this happens. We've already been faced with several obstacles, what more could happen in a mere 10 days?!?!
"So...are you dying?" You could tell Jeff was smiling as the sarcasm flowed from his mouth to my ear. I paused a moment and said, "I have to go to the emergency room."
Stunned silence.
"I'm going to come get you okay?" My voice was cracking.
"Okay" We didn't say much else. I told him that Dr. Smith that it was a blood clot and we needed to go NOW.
We waited for a while. Are you shocked? I think that's why they make emergency rooms. So you can prolong suffering. Do you know at a Los Angeles hospital, a woman died, collapsed on the floor, waiting to be seen by a doctor in the Emergency Room?
Eventually, they took blood and I calmed down. Jeff and I were joking around, reading magazines, talking on the phone as if this was only going to be a quick trip to the Emergency room. They brought us in the back and we had our own room. We played "Phase Ten" for about an hour when they told me that I had to get an utlrasound on my leg because the bloodwork implied that I had a blood clot. I started getting a little nervous.
The ultrasound was really cool; more importantly, the woman running the ultrasound machine was even cooler. She was a single mom on call at night. Her son was in a little room next door playing games on the computer. I think I was the only reason why she had to come in that night. She taught me so much about blood clots in a very short amount of time. And then she told me the bad news (even though she wasn't supposed to)...I had a blood clot called a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). It was about 5 inches in length. She let me look at the machine and even hold the stick that pushes on my skin!
About an hour after the ultrasound, the emergency room doctor who had NO BEDSIDE MANNER told me I had to be admitted. I was in shock. We stopped playing cards and I finally cried. I immediately had Jeff call my family because I knew they would want to know if I actually was admitted to a hospital. As Jeff was outside, Dr. No Bedside Manner came in and asked what I was so afraid of...
This is what I wanted to say: "Well, you've spent a total of 3 minutes with me while I've been here 5 hours and you cut me off while I'm talking and you don't ask me if I have any questions and you tell me my blood clot is not a big deal but you're admitting to a hospital for at least a couple days and I hate your scrubs. Blue is not your color.
But this is what I said: "I just can't believe I'm being admitted to the hospital. I just can't believe this is happening." He didn't respond. He just walked away.
Next a Cardiologist came to visit. She was great. She educated Jeff and I on what happened and why it probably happened. It turns out that I may have thick blood. and therefore, are prone to blood clots. Things like birth control and sitting sedintary for long periods of time (one hour or more) cause this thick blood to clot. She explained that because my bloodclot was below the knee, she didn't feel I needed to be admitted. However, my at-home care proved to be intense.
Jeff gives me four shots a day in my stomach. Yes, Jeff Garris has to give me injections and he's great at it!!!! I also take a blood thinning medicine at night. I'm never to be on birth control again. I have to "take it easy" but "walk frequently" and I can't ride a bull or play with swords, razors, scissors, knives, large machine tools, gardening utensils, and...well you get the picture.
The injections give me a nonstop minor headache and they make me sleepy. Nothing I can't handle...just annoying. And I can't take any pain relievers because they mess with my blood thinning meds. Oh! and I can't eat anything that has loads of Vitamin K...that leaves out all green, leafy vegetables...I'm SO BUMMED I won't have to have salad everyday!!! I LOVE RAW VEGETABLES!!! he he he :)
I want to take a moment to thank Jeff. Through all of this you have been nothing short of amazing. I can't imagine doing this alone. Even moreso, I can't imagine doing this without you.
Love to you all,
Kelley :)