GWS ColinJ.. DVT/Pulmonary Embolism

[Hip Priest]

Best wishes Colin. Take it easy.

 

[ColinJ]

Best wishes Colin. Take it easy.

Thanks. I am just nipping out to have a Heparin injection to help keep me safe until my new Warfarin regime has been insituted and my INR levels have settled down.

 

[Rickshaw Phil]

That's disappointing for you.

I'm glad they've caught it early though and hope that your recovery is better than expected.

 

[oldfatfool]

Bummer, hope it all settles down sharpish and you can move forward.

 

[postman]

Best wishes from me,keep your chin up.

 

[ColinJ]

Thanks, all. Just back from the jab, and I was feeling pretty rough in the waiting room, so I think that this was caught just in time; if my posts on CycleChat abruptly stop, however - it wasn't!

 

[Alun]

Best wishes for a speedy recovery, take care!

 

[ColinJ]

Miracles can happen, but I think it would be better for my head to assume that I won't be doing any hilly forum rides in 2013 ... Better to be pleasantly surprised by a rapid recovery than disappointed by a slow one!

 

[Deleted member 1258]

Thats a bit of a bugger Colin but at least they spotted it quickly, best wishes on getting this little setback sorted quickly..

 

[GetAGrip]

Sorry to hear this Colin, Good that you knew the signs when 'it' hit again though! Credit to you being so positive about it ............... you little trooper you
Take care and keep us informed of your progress

 

[Scoosh]

I have a bilateral pulmonary embolism.

... sounds very unpleasant, if not rather dangerous . Take your recovery very easily, don't rush it ... or you might not recover at all !

GWS** Colin.



** = Get Well SLOWLY !

 

[ColinJ]

Is it too girly to ?

I'll take all the support I can get!

I am having to fight all the negative feelings that I experienced through that long winter all over again. Right now, I am trying to relax in bed but my breathing is laboured, my heart rate is elevated and my mind is 'mushy'. It is very easy to get into a panic and the problem is that panic induces the same symptoms, so a terrible vicious cycle can rapidly develop. Repeat after me: calm, calm, calm ...

If lifelong anticoagulation definitely is required then I am going to tell my GP and the anticoagulation team that I want to do my own INR blood tests at home. I would have to buy a meter for £299, which would be a good investment because I would be able to test myself as and when I feel it necessary, rather than only every 4-6 weeks which is what I ended up on last time. I would need a disposable finger pricker and a special slide for each test, costing about £4-5 a time, but I should be able to persuade my GP to prescribe them to keep my costs down.

 

[fossyant]

That's a bummer, but you've caught it in time for the meds to do their stuff much earlier this time. Get well soon !

 

[dan_bo]

^ that's the best that can be said of the situation Col- Steady steady!

 

[ColinJ]

While I was waiting in a side room at A&E, I told my sister everything I knew about clotting, DVTs, Pulmonary Embolism, Vitamin K (the body uses it as part of the clotting mechanism) and so on. I told her that I had been supposed to get a thrombophilia screen done to see if I had a genetic mutation which makes clotting more likely, and how anticoagulant drugs interfere with that test so the blood sample needed to be taken before my treatment started ...

Anyway, the hours passed and I was getting tired. It had been a stressful day and I needed sleep. A nurse appeared with a syringe in a plastic tray and announced that he was going to inject an anticoagulant into my belly fat. Yeah, yeah, been there, had that done, felt really squeamish ... I looked away, he lifted my tee-shirt, wiped the skin with that alcohol stuff they use, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the syringe getting closer ...

Suddenly, my sister shouted "STOP!!!!!!"

The nurse leapt back in fright and I jumped up so quickly that I almost ended up impaled on the syringe anyway!

"You forgot to get your thrombophilia screen done!"

Oh, flipping heck, yes! We told the nurse and he wandered off to get a doctor to sign the test request.

I was going a bit loopy from fatigue and stress and started a very animated monologue in which I illustrated rather too realistically the kind of noises that I might have made if my condition had become critical. A sound of strangled gasping reverberated down the empty corridor. My sister was sitting by the open curtain to our side room and she saw a nurse sprinting full-speed along the corridor towards us ...

"No, no, it's okay - it is only my moron brother playing the fool!"

The nurse glared at her and went back to her duties.

Sis turned to me and barked "Don't - you - ever - do - that - again!!"

Oops!