You are your own best advocate. - DVT awareness

I really wish I was a good writer. I really would love to be able to put some sort of witty comment in here, in the just right spot, to make this less... well, dull. It is however something that has scared the shit out of me, and has taught me a valuable lesson.

The point of this post is that you have to be your own best advocate. If you think something isn't right- push and push. Don't worry about being a pain in the ass... the docs are getting paid big bucks to take care of you, and you know your body better than they do.

As many of you know, I had vericose vein stripping that went horribly wrong. I knew something was wrong, just after the surgery on September 25th, but was willing to accept what the doctor told me. Even on October 1st, when the doc saw me (sick as a dog with a 102 fever) and told me that was "normal" , I took him at his word, instead of fighting with him to give me the antibiotics I so desperately needed.

Just after the second surgery to evacuate the hematoma in that same vein leg (left), I had some pain in my right calf, that was NOT there before. Once again I listened to the physicians assistant, and the surgeon that this was most likely the start of compensation pain as the pain in my left leg was diminished by about 99%. So, I go through 1 1/2 weeks of pain and swelling in my right leg and call the doc again. This time he had me come in.

I had no other symptoms, except for some swelling, and the pain had gone down to hardly anything. He had me get a doppler study on my leg just to rule out anything. I call and get the next closest appointment that I didn't have to take off of work for (my intuition)- which was 1 week later. I will save my doctors appointment rant for another post.

Now, for anyone who has had ultrasounds, you can always tell when something isn't right. Mind you, at this point the swelling was down to nothing, and ZERO pain. Well, turns out I have a Deep Vein Thrombosis. This is the thing that killed David Bloom, and one of those things that has always been a fear of mine.

About 50% of clots have no symptoms, but these are the symptoms that can show up.
- pain or tenderness in the leg
-swelling, discoloration or redness in the leg
- warmth in the leg.

Those were the symptoms I had, but they all but went away. Please, take a look at this site, and just know the risks.

http://www.vdf.org/diseaseinfo/dvt/index.php

I will be fine, THANK GOD, thanks to finding this out early. Yeah, shots in the belly 2 times a day isn't fun, but its better than leaving my daughter without a mummy and my husband without a wife.