Well, as some of you know, the past 2 weeks have been surprising, horrifying, and very painful. Monday, November 24, 2008 started out pretty normal. I got up, showered, ate breakfast, got ready and headed to work. As the day went on, my left leg started to swell up like it does sometimes, but this time it was different. It started swelling faster than normal and I started to get this sharp stinging throbbing pain in my upper thigh. I thought "ok well maybe i pulled a muscle." So I took some Tylenol and went on with my day. When I got home that night I took a hot bath, elevated my legs and things seemed to go back to normal.... much to my surprise I woke up Tuesday with so much pain that I couldn't walk more than 5 or 10 steps then I had to rest. So, I took myself up to the Urgent Care clinic at West Florida Hospital to see one of the MDs there. In the back of my mind I was wondering what was going on... and all I could really think about was "what if its a blood clot?" since my mom and grandmother had gotten them in the past... well, my thinking was right. That's the first thing the doc said to me was "i'm pretty sure its a blood clot"... I immediately wanted to cry so much, but I held myself together until after he explained what the treatment was and what was going to happen. So... they wheeled me out in this wheelchair mean't for a 400 pound person... you could literally fit 3 of me in there! I went down to get an ultrasound of my left leg, but much to my surprise they found clots in both of my legs... the one they found in the right leg they say had been there for a while, probably atleast 6 months, but just was asymptomatic, and it was up near my hip. The one they found in my left leg was from foot to hip in my femoral artery and was a new clot. So... 10 hours in the emergency room later I got a CT scan to check if it was in my lungs or not, and thank goodness it wasn't! They immediately started me on Lovenox and Coumadin, both blood thinners. I had to be on the Lovenox for 13 days, and will stay on Coumadin for 6 months. The doctors think that I may have some kind for blood disorder that affects the clotting mechanisms in my body, and also that my birth control contributed to it too. Which they were baffled because I don't smoke, I'm active, and I'm not overweight. So, if you're reading this and are taking birth control... don't smoke, as your risks are higher... and don't ever say "it can't/won't happen to you..." because it can!!!

So basically, I've been out of work and off my feet for 2 weeks. I really can't describe the pain from this whole experience as anything else but excruciating. There's been times where I just wanna sleep all day cuz if I move it just gets worse. It's getting better a little bit more everyday, but I can't wait until the day that I don't have the pain anymore! It's been a scary journey, and I still wonder "why"... why me? This year hasn't been that great for me medically wise, and I just hope the new year brings happy things, and no more "medical" problems :)