Dang Blood Clot

I went back to the doctor today to see about this lovely knot on the calf of my left leg.

The blood clot is not going away. There is still swelling, though not as bad. There is not a lot of redness, and no heat. The doctor looked it over closely and decided to do some kind of blood test that I expect is expensive, because they had me sign a paper that I would pay for it. It apparently determines how well your blood clots. Or not.

At any rate, the results of this test will determine the next steps. If the result is not good, then I will need to go have an ultrasound to check for a deeper clot and to see how the veins are in my leg. If the results are good, then I just need to continue to put heat on it, elevate it, and allow time to do its thing.

Blood clots ache. I had no idea they hurt so bad. No wonder people with varicose veins have surgery to remove them. I don't have too many varicose veins; I have a few tiny little ones but they've never given me any problem. I have noticed in the last month or so that I seem to have more little red spider veins that I did.

I am purposefully not looking up information on these SVTs because I don't want to scare myself. I already made that mistake once - the first place I looked said that while it was rare, blood clots could be a result of pancreatic cancer. My mother died of pancreatic cancer so of course that was a high red flag. Good grief.

So I haven't read much about this and am relying on my doctor instead.

My grandmother had varicose veins and according to my aunt, she experienced these superficial venous thrombosis things. It's probably hereditary.

In the meantime, it's stormed and we had hay down, so it's wet and pretty much a loss. One of the perils of farming. It is thundering now as I speak, which means it is probably time to shut down this ol' computer and go read a book.

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Update: Friday I received the blood work back and it's not a DVT. Just something that is going to be painful and a problem for a while longer. I've decided it's probably a Hershey's Kiss stuck in there.