slyc_willie
Captain Crash
- Joined
- Sep 4, 2006
- Posts
- 17,732
Okay, so, as some of you know, I have a chronic blood-clotting disorder, which was first diagnosed in 2003. Since that time, I've suffered two embolisms and have been in the hospital a good seven or eight times. It was a real pain in the ass to adjust to being handicapped, and to have my own mortality smack me in the face. But I eventually got used to the changes I had to make in my life.
I went on coumadin therapy imemdiately after that first diagnosis, with the understanding that I would probably be on bloodthinners for the rest of my life. But after a few years, I hated the way I felt. I was tired all the time. I suffered from a lack of energy. I hated fearing getting a knick when I was shaving, because I'd bleed for minutes on end. I ruined a few good shirts that way. Not to mention I kept returning to the hospital because of a new formation of blood clots in my legs.
So I started looking, and speaking with alternative doctors, and I was introduced to chelation therapy. It was risky, and not endorsed by the AMA. But I figured I could take the chance. So I stopped taking coumadin and started taking cardio chelate.
It changed my life, literally. No more tiredness, no more issues with my blood. I still had a little swelling in my lower legs, but that's more of a vascular problem, now.
And then, last week, there was pain. And serious swelling. From my left foot all the way up my thigh. I took a couple days off from work and stayed off my feet, not wanting to admit what I was afraid was happening. And it seemed to work; the swelling diminished, the pain went away.
Until yesterday, when it all came back with a vengeance.
I was pissed. Not because I had developed new clot formation, but because it was entirely my fault. I had praised myself for doing something different, taking the chance with alternative therapy. But it had backfired, and my life was in jeaopardy as a result.
This morning at eight a.m., I checked myself into Methodist Hospital. The best joint in town, really, for these kinds of things. Good food and cable in every room. I fully expected to be admitted and observed for a week or so as I was put back on coumadin therapy. The very idea made me cringe. It was like God telling me, "sorry, kid, you're not as tough or as smart as you thought."
My doctor was a guy named McManus. I swear, he must have owned stock in Starbucks, they way he flitted around. But he was thorough. Once all the niceties were over and I explained my medical history, he got down to business. Full blood workups. EKG. Chest X-ray. Ultrasound on both legs.
I waited a few hours for the results, already knowing what they would be. My only positive thought was that I could still get lunch once I got to my room.
Then, as casual as could be, my nurse comes in with a clipboard and cheerily announces that, as soon as Dr. McManus wrote out a prescription, I was going to be discharged.
What?
"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically.
"Uh-huh. No blood clots. You have cellulitis. It's just an infection. Antibiotics should clear it up within a week or so."
McManus came in a few minutes later with the prescription.
"You sure I don't have a blood clot?"
"Completely sure. The ultrasound showed some scarring from previous clotting, but your veins are pretty much clear."
"Then how did I get cellulitis?"
He shrugged. "There are a hundred ways. Insect bite, a cut, anything."
And I thought back about a month before, when I was walking to work, and stepped on a thorn that went through my boot and into my foot. My left foot.
Holy shit. And here I thought I had fucked up.
So now I'm home. Crisis averted.
My leg still burns and hurts when I walk, but the antibiotics will clear it up. For $96, they sure as hell better. 
My faith in alternative medicine is restored.
I went on coumadin therapy imemdiately after that first diagnosis, with the understanding that I would probably be on bloodthinners for the rest of my life. But after a few years, I hated the way I felt. I was tired all the time. I suffered from a lack of energy. I hated fearing getting a knick when I was shaving, because I'd bleed for minutes on end. I ruined a few good shirts that way. Not to mention I kept returning to the hospital because of a new formation of blood clots in my legs.
So I started looking, and speaking with alternative doctors, and I was introduced to chelation therapy. It was risky, and not endorsed by the AMA. But I figured I could take the chance. So I stopped taking coumadin and started taking cardio chelate.
It changed my life, literally. No more tiredness, no more issues with my blood. I still had a little swelling in my lower legs, but that's more of a vascular problem, now.
And then, last week, there was pain. And serious swelling. From my left foot all the way up my thigh. I took a couple days off from work and stayed off my feet, not wanting to admit what I was afraid was happening. And it seemed to work; the swelling diminished, the pain went away.
Until yesterday, when it all came back with a vengeance.
I was pissed. Not because I had developed new clot formation, but because it was entirely my fault. I had praised myself for doing something different, taking the chance with alternative therapy. But it had backfired, and my life was in jeaopardy as a result.
This morning at eight a.m., I checked myself into Methodist Hospital. The best joint in town, really, for these kinds of things. Good food and cable in every room. I fully expected to be admitted and observed for a week or so as I was put back on coumadin therapy. The very idea made me cringe. It was like God telling me, "sorry, kid, you're not as tough or as smart as you thought."
My doctor was a guy named McManus. I swear, he must have owned stock in Starbucks, they way he flitted around. But he was thorough. Once all the niceties were over and I explained my medical history, he got down to business. Full blood workups. EKG. Chest X-ray. Ultrasound on both legs.
I waited a few hours for the results, already knowing what they would be. My only positive thought was that I could still get lunch once I got to my room.
Then, as casual as could be, my nurse comes in with a clipboard and cheerily announces that, as soon as Dr. McManus wrote out a prescription, I was going to be discharged.
What?
"Are you sure?" I asked skeptically.
"Uh-huh. No blood clots. You have cellulitis. It's just an infection. Antibiotics should clear it up within a week or so."
McManus came in a few minutes later with the prescription.
"You sure I don't have a blood clot?"
"Completely sure. The ultrasound showed some scarring from previous clotting, but your veins are pretty much clear."
"Then how did I get cellulitis?"
He shrugged. "There are a hundred ways. Insect bite, a cut, anything."
And I thought back about a month before, when I was walking to work, and stepped on a thorn that went through my boot and into my foot. My left foot.
Holy shit. And here I thought I had fucked up.
So now I'm home. Crisis averted.
My leg still burns and hurts when I walk, but the antibiotics will clear it up. For $96, they sure as hell better. My faith in alternative medicine is restored.
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Most excellent news. Be more careful of those thorns. (Yeah, who am I to talk? I think I still have one in my foot. 
