POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Pre-HAART Long-Term Survivors => Topic started by: deibster on December 22, 2013, 03:58:06 pm
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Well hello my friends,
It's been a hell of a week. Let me start at the beginning; 2 weeks ago I volunteered at a benefit for my ASO, walked around in the dark collecting tips while amateur & professional drag queens performed onstage. I bumped my right shin 3 times in the same place. The next morning, I had a nice bump there.
Tuesday morning, when I got out of bed my right leg hurt. I looked down & it was swollen almost twice the size of the left leg. I went to the clinic & was sent on to the ER an hour away, arriving at 2 PM. They had a new computer system so they had to take my history again & do an ultrasound; large blood clot in your groin. By now it was 10 PM, I requested some food & the ER doc went off duty. I asked who was going to take care of me, an admitting doc will take over.
By midnight I finally had a CAT scan, Cape Cod hospital = the slowest hospital in the USA. The next doc had an accent, Polish I think. He didn't know what two of my 3 HIV meds were, always a good sign. He said what day did your leg pain start & I said, "Are you fucking crazy, I woke up with it today. His response, what did you say, TODAY! The CAT scan showed that half of the blood clot had moved to my lung so it was too late to operate with a catheter to remove it.
I was admitted to a telemetry floor in the new wing, meaning I was on a wireless heart monitor so they could detect if the clot in my lung moved & my heart went into distress. They tried to put me on bed rest, an alarm went off when I got off the bed to go to the bathroom, so they turned the alarm off. The next day I was walking around the floor & was told numerous times, take it easy, you're supposed to be on bed rest. Not at 61 I'm not. We're expecting our 1st grandchild in the spring and I refuse to be an invalid. I guess I should say that in my younger days I was married to a woman & have 2 sons, now 34 and 31 years old.
It took 2 more days to get a heart echocardiagram, on Thursday afternoon. On Friday hubby picked me up to go home; have to inject myself in the belly with Lovenox, blood thinner twice a day and be followed Closely for INR clotting level. I have to agree with a previous poster, "If I get to the point of being an invalid before I'm 80 years old, I'd rather not be here."
a Belated Happy Chanukah.
Merry Christmas and Hugs from Provincetown, Deiby
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Deiby,
Sorry to hear you are going through all of this. :( Sounds like quite an ordeal.
My only comment about your post is that bed rest was ordered for a good reason. Blood clots from what I understand can move around and by moving yourself around it could nudge the clot along.
I always wondered what emergency care would be like on the Cape. I can't imagine there are many major hospitals.
Hope your clot dissolves soon and you are back to enjoying life as usual in P-Town. :)
Happy Holidays to you as well!
m.
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So sorry to hear this.
But, since you are still "here" I get to wish you a Merry Christmas. I hear PTown is beautiful this time of year.
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So sorry to hear this.
But, since you are still "here" I get to wish you a Merry Christmas. I hear PTown is beautiful this time of year.
I've only been to P-Town once this time of year. It was New Years eve and a snowstorm dropped a foot of snow. The town looked so magical.
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Greetings,
None of the docs, that I see, at my local clinic, have hospital privileges. The hospital is an hour away in good weather, without tourist traffic. Since I live on long narrow Cape Cod in MA, we either have summer tourists or winter fog/ice much of the year, making it a 90 min to 2 hour ride.
My primary care doc called me in the hospital. He said that strict bed rest was "old school." He agreed with me that walking around the hosp floor was okay; just don't do anything strenuous. I asked if he'd prescribe physical therapy for my leg? Response: Take it easy for a month & then we'll talk about it if you feel the need.
l got a copy of labwork when leaving the hosp but it wasn't complete. I've had prior kidney damage from tenofavir, so I know they did a Creatinine level before starting Lovenox injectable & it wasn't there. So, it's up early tomorrow for more labwork & to schedule a followup visit.
Hugs from Provincetown, Deiby
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Hello Dieb,
Sorry to hear about the recent trouble you've been having. It's never easy to have to deal with any health issues, especially around the holidays, Take care of yourself, and get well.
Enjoy the holidays, and lets make next year a healthy and happy year, for all of us !
Ray
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Sorry to hear about the recent health troubles. Hope you get OK and enjoy the holidays.
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Thank you, everyone for the support. We had a peaceful Christmas and I'm feeling better; off of the blood thinner shots. I'm on Coumadin pills and get my clotting level checked twice per week. I see my primary doc tomorrow, since he's covering the clinic this Saturday. Have a healthy New Year.
Hugs from Provincetown, Deiby