Snakes and lungs
So, a lot's happened since my last update, but the big news consists of two things.
In my last post, I mentioned that my elderly boa constrictor had stopped eating for an alarmingly long time. Thankfully, after this latest round of vet treatment (including Baytril, anti-parasitics, and tube-feeding him some cat food), he's eating on his own again. So far he's eaten two rats that are quite small for him, and after one more, I'll try moving him onto bigger prey.
The bad news is that on the night of the 12th, I developed a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lungs).
Back in early November, I had an intense pain in my right calf, consistent with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT, blood clot blocking a vein). I was sent out for a doppler ultrasound, which found nothing, so it was mis-diagnosed as sciatica and I was given painkillers. After a few weeks, the pain was gone, and I thought nothing more of it until the 12th, when I started having chest pains aggravated by breathing. I went to the ER, and after a D-dimer test showed clot products in my blood, I was sent for a CT angiography, which showed clots in my right lung. I was immediately admitted to the hospital and given LMW heparin, a potent anti-coagulant. Over the night, I got poked, prodded and tested in all sorts of ways, and by the next afternoon I was sent home with heparin injections and an Rx for warfarin (formerly used as rat poison). Since then, I've moved entirely onto warfarin, which I'll have to keep taking for anywhere from 3-12 months, depending on the results of genetic testing. There's no identifiable cause, which, while it sounds alarming, isn't that uncommon, and preliminary genetic testing indicates I may have a clotting mutation that's exceedingly common in those of European ancestry.
As of now, I'm fine, and just have to get blood drawn every few days to check my rat poison levels, so don't worry. Still, not the highlight of my year, that's for sure.
In my last post, I mentioned that my elderly boa constrictor had stopped eating for an alarmingly long time. Thankfully, after this latest round of vet treatment (including Baytril, anti-parasitics, and tube-feeding him some cat food), he's eating on his own again. So far he's eaten two rats that are quite small for him, and after one more, I'll try moving him onto bigger prey.
The bad news is that on the night of the 12th, I developed a pulmonary embolism (a blood clot in the lungs).
Back in early November, I had an intense pain in my right calf, consistent with a deep vein thrombosis (DVT, blood clot blocking a vein). I was sent out for a doppler ultrasound, which found nothing, so it was mis-diagnosed as sciatica and I was given painkillers. After a few weeks, the pain was gone, and I thought nothing more of it until the 12th, when I started having chest pains aggravated by breathing. I went to the ER, and after a D-dimer test showed clot products in my blood, I was sent for a CT angiography, which showed clots in my right lung. I was immediately admitted to the hospital and given LMW heparin, a potent anti-coagulant. Over the night, I got poked, prodded and tested in all sorts of ways, and by the next afternoon I was sent home with heparin injections and an Rx for warfarin (formerly used as rat poison). Since then, I've moved entirely onto warfarin, which I'll have to keep taking for anywhere from 3-12 months, depending on the results of genetic testing. There's no identifiable cause, which, while it sounds alarming, isn't that uncommon, and preliminary genetic testing indicates I may have a clotting mutation that's exceedingly common in those of European ancestry.
As of now, I'm fine, and just have to get blood drawn every few days to check my rat poison levels, so don't worry. Still, not the highlight of my year, that's for sure.