six months ago (minus three days), a blood clot which formed in the back of my left leg after my knee surgery broke off, zoomed up my leg, through my heart and got stuck in my lung. it went from being a DVT to a PE in a millisecond. and it almost killed me.
for the last six months (minus three days), i’ve been taking a daily dose of rat poison to thin my blood enough so that i wouldn’t form another clot and to buy my body time to “deal with” the clot that now resided in my lung, like a ticking time bomb.
every week for the last six months (minus three days), i’ve had to go to the lab and get poked with needles (sometimes multiple times) to draw my blood to ensure that i was taking enough rat poison to keep the clot(s) at bay.
every minute of every day for the last six months (minus three days), i’ve worried about that clot in my lung. the doctor in the hospital said one of three things could happen to it:
1) it could just go away;
2) it could get scarified and permanently attached inside my lung; or,
3) it could, in some cases, get bigger.
he also said they wouldn’t do any follow-up CT scan or testing to find out what it did after my six months of anti-coagulant treatment. take the pills and then stop taking the pills and you’ll be fine, he said. so, i lived with the fear that it was just growing and getting more and more ominous because that’s what i do. i worry and practice hypochondria.
today, i got the news.
my lovely and wonderful hematologist told me that the radioactive fog i breathed in and radioactive solution i got shot up with two weeks ago showed that my lungs are completely clear. my clot is gone! my lungs are absolutely normal and i am not going to die at some random moment because i exerted myself too much and dislodged my unwanted lung tenant! i can eat broccoli and take vitamins with abandon! i can have beer! i can go jump on a treadmill and not fear heavy breathing!
i started to cry as i walked to the car. i knew i’d been depressed and anxious the last six months (minus three days) and that i was under some extreme stress, but this news, those three little words, have lifted a giant weight from my shoulders. as i told my dad, there aren’t enough exclamation points in the world to express just how happy this makes me.
I AM NORMAL!!!
and i’m so happy i could almost float. =)
That is awesome!!! Congrats on the great news!
Yayy!
The next time I hear the (rhetorical) question “Who wants to be normal?”, I’ll point them this way.
Great news! I guess that means we need to drink beer while eating broccoli and popping vitamins!
:) congratulations! huzzah!
*me teary-eyed* yah! i love you and your clear lungs!
xo
Yay! So glad for you, Heather. Funny enough, my blood clot was in the back of my left knee, too. Guess they like the left knee. :\
Woohoo! Cross country flights allowed now, right?? ;-)
You are the best. I am glad to hear that you are “normal”. Now, how does one become normal again? I need some advice on that…