An Eventful Morning

Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, I woke with the calf of my leg feeling like 10,000 bees were stinging it.

At first I thought it was a muscle cramp, but it didn't feel like that. I've had muscle cramps. This felt more like the time a few years ago when I had a superficial blood clot in the same area. I rose and walked around a bit.

Later, after we were both up, I asked my husband to look at my calf. He said it was swollen. It wasn't hot to the touch, but the swelling was a concern.

My doctor's office answered the phone at 7:45 a.m., and I was immediately worked in. I really lucked out with my doctor. I wouldn't trade her for anything.

She sent in a student first, who did a thorough examination of my leg and noted that not only was it swollen, it was redder than the other leg. By this time it no longer felt like thousands of bees stinging me; it merely throbbed and was quite sore when touched.

My doctor came in, took a quick look, felt my pulse in my ankles, and told me she didn't like it. She ordered blood work, and said that I was going straight to the hospital for an ultrasound. No arguing with her this time.

(Last time I'd had a superficial blood clot, I didn't do the ultrasound until months later, because it took a long time to resolve.)

My doctor's nurse managed to draw blood on the first stick - a rarity - and then I had to wait while they wrote the orders for the imaging my doctor wanted. (Apparently there is a blood test for clotting. It's called D-dimer test. I'll have those results tomorrow.)

I called my husband and he told me to come home and get him so he could go with me. I hated dragging him away from his farm work, but he insisted. So I went home and while he changed clothes, I made us both ham sandwiches, which we ate on the way to the hospital.

The wait at the hospital was relatively short, given that I was being worked in there, too. We were gone a little over two hours.

The good news is the ultrasound technician found no blood clot, though she said I had some deep varicose veins. My doctor had said if it wasn't a blood clot, then it was probably phlebitis. 

Phlebitis is an inflammation of the veins. 

So I suppose that is what I have. It generally goes away on its own. My grandmother had this, if I remember right, so I'm going to go with a hereditary condition.

Given that my diet has been weird for the last six months, I am not surprised that other health concerns might crop up. I'm probably missing some important nutrient, only I have no idea what.

The initial concern of course was that I had symptoms of a DVT, a deep vein thrombosis. This can be life-threatening because the clot can break lose and travel to the lungs, causing a pulmonary embolism. 

Symptoms of a DVT, according to the Mayo Clinic, are, (1) swelling in the affected leg, (2) pain that starts in the calf and feels like cramping or soreness, (3) red or discolored skin, and (4) a feeling of warmth in the affected leg.

I had all the symptoms except the last one. Thankfully, the ultrasound showed no blood clot. So I'm ok. My leg is sore but it will be better.

If you, dear reader, experience these symptoms, don't hesitate to go the doctor. They take these things seriously and would rather rule out something life threatening than treat for a pulmonary embolism or visit you in your casket.