Random Update (health)
Nov. 19th, 2020 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hrjMy social media is all so overlapping that I don't know how many readers of my journal here haven't already heard this. But just in case...
This past Sunday morning, while I was fixing coffee just before sitting down to record a podcast, I was suddenly hit with extreme shortness of breath. Called 911, got an ambulance ride, and a few hours later it was confirmed as a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs). They found some clotting in my lower leg that is the assumed source, but no clear reason why I was having clotting issues. I'm on blood thinners now (injectable through today, then oral starting tomorrow) and instructions to take it easy pending further assessment. After that first episode, I haven't had any similar extreme shortness of breath. (The test for getting sprung from the hospital was being able to walk around the corridors without my O2 going below 90%.) And I haven't had any perceptible shortness of breath after the second day. So it looks like the recovery is going as planned.
I was in the hospital for less than three days (sprung mid-day on Tuesday) though it felt longer. I have a solid local support crew who will be helping me with any heavy lifting until I'm cleared for duty again. I think the medical staff were amused that my "normal activity goal" was being able to bicycle again. They seem to have low expectations for old ladies in their 60s. Thank goodness for social media, which enabled me to get the word out efficiently and brought me an outpouring of moral and other support. (I don't need any financial support. I have solid health coverage and I'm back on the job, since my job involves sitting at my desk at home in any case.)
My reminder to all of you is to have a good communication relationship with your body. Know what the range of normal feels like, and pay attention when non-normal hits. That's easier when it's as sudden as my PE was, but it's worth listening when the signals are more subtle too. I was having some non-normal leg cramping in the previous week that *may* have been an early effect of the clots. Hard to tell. And it's much harder to think, "Is this mildly abnormal thing something I should have checked out (especially in Covid times)?"
In any event, I'm reasonably ok now. I'll be on blood thinners for an indefinite period of time, depending on further information. Lots of people are. Blood clots are something that can happen randomly just once, or can be due to an underlying predisposition to clotting. I don't have any of the typical predisposing factors, nor the most common relevant genetic markers, so maybe this was random chance.
This past Sunday morning, while I was fixing coffee just before sitting down to record a podcast, I was suddenly hit with extreme shortness of breath. Called 911, got an ambulance ride, and a few hours later it was confirmed as a pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs). They found some clotting in my lower leg that is the assumed source, but no clear reason why I was having clotting issues. I'm on blood thinners now (injectable through today, then oral starting tomorrow) and instructions to take it easy pending further assessment. After that first episode, I haven't had any similar extreme shortness of breath. (The test for getting sprung from the hospital was being able to walk around the corridors without my O2 going below 90%.) And I haven't had any perceptible shortness of breath after the second day. So it looks like the recovery is going as planned.
I was in the hospital for less than three days (sprung mid-day on Tuesday) though it felt longer. I have a solid local support crew who will be helping me with any heavy lifting until I'm cleared for duty again. I think the medical staff were amused that my "normal activity goal" was being able to bicycle again. They seem to have low expectations for old ladies in their 60s. Thank goodness for social media, which enabled me to get the word out efficiently and brought me an outpouring of moral and other support. (I don't need any financial support. I have solid health coverage and I'm back on the job, since my job involves sitting at my desk at home in any case.)
My reminder to all of you is to have a good communication relationship with your body. Know what the range of normal feels like, and pay attention when non-normal hits. That's easier when it's as sudden as my PE was, but it's worth listening when the signals are more subtle too. I was having some non-normal leg cramping in the previous week that *may* have been an early effect of the clots. Hard to tell. And it's much harder to think, "Is this mildly abnormal thing something I should have checked out (especially in Covid times)?"
In any event, I'm reasonably ok now. I'll be on blood thinners for an indefinite period of time, depending on further information. Lots of people are. Blood clots are something that can happen randomly just once, or can be due to an underlying predisposition to clotting. I don't have any of the typical predisposing factors, nor the most common relevant genetic markers, so maybe this was random chance.
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