When you think of a blood clot, what comes to mind? Stroke, paralysis, and death, right? Yeah, me too. So when I woke up on Monday with a painful lump in my leg, I’m trying not to think the worst. It was red, swollen and painful to the touch. When I looked that up, it said that’s most likely a blood clot and to go to the doctor.
Humph. I’ve had vericose veins for a long time, and I remember a similar instance of a blood clot when I was pregnant with John. I panicked, went to the doctor, who sent me to the hospital for an ultrasound of my leg. There they told me that yes, indeed I did have a blood clot in my leg, and to take an aspirin a day and try to keep off of my feet for a while. What? That was it? Isn’t it dangerous? Probably not.
So, this time, I didn’t really want to waste a lot of time and money going to the doctor, so I just dealt with the pain myself. I kept off my feet as much as I could that day, and the next day the pain was a little better. Also less swollen and not so hard. The next day, I felt ok, although, yes, it still hurts to touch it and it’s still swollen. At an activity for the young women and young men last night (did I mention that I’ve got a new calling? Oh, by the way, I’m a young women leader now. Surprise!) I asked our friend, the doctor, if this was something serious and I was going to die from a blood clot. He took one look at my ugly purple swirlies on my leg and said, “yes, it’s a blood clot, but you’re not going to die,” Comforting, isn’t it? “It’s a superficial vein, so that’s not the kind of clot that travels up and kills you.” How nice to know.
So, YES, I’ve got a blood clot. Yes, it’s a pain, and Yes, I hate my vericose veins (Thank you, Dad!). My sister also suffers from extreme vericose veins, but she’s always pregnant, so she can’t do anything about it right now. She’s told me to find out if lasering does the job, then let her know so she can do it once she’s not pregnant. I’m going to do some research on lasering those suckers really soon. But No, I’m not in any mortal danger of dieing from the blood clot, so that’s a reassurance. If you have any experience with those vein centers, please let me know, as I think I’m going to be shopping around.
I have a friend who had his lasered and never regretted it for a minute. He was on crutches for maybe 3 days. Look into it!
Wow, I had no idea! I have always thought the worst about clots, but I am frankly really relieved to hear that it’s not such a big (life altering) deal from your post.
So, what’s your calling??? How does that work out with bells??
Paige,
Take that baby aspirin daily! Keith has been to the International Vein Center or whatever it’s called the one that advertises a lot. He has some bad veins too, must be a Coleman thing. He was all set to have the procedure done, the day before our insurance refused to cover it- they say it’s cosmetic not medical. How stupid is that! So check it out but I hope your insurance does better than ours (Altius) I hope the pain isn’t bad, you should go to the doctor! Our Kim had a blood clot in her leg on her first pregnancy, you should ask her.