Posted 13 years ago

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Achievement Unlocked: Get A Diagnosis (health update #7)

My CTPA yesterday (I was a real baby about the cannula, incidentally) has clearly shown the presence of pulmonary embolisms – blood clots in my lung.

Which on the one hand is bad news, because it means this was something that could easily have killed me sometime in the past few weeks (“about 15% of all cases of sudden death are attributable to PE”, as Wikipedia notes). Indeed, a PE was what killed my friend Owen a few months back.

But on the other hand, when considered against the unpalatable alternative diagnosis I could have had – including heart problems and unusual drug-resistant strains of pneumonia or pleurisy – a PE is a manageable condition treated by a long-term course of oral warfarin. Taken in that context, this isn’t such bad news and it’s certainly a sincere relief to have a solid diagnosis.

I need to go back to the hospital today for another Clexane (Lovenox to you Americans) jab to tide me over to an appointment tomorrow with the haematology department where they’ll take me through what this means. I’ll stay on the Clexane for a few days (groan; they really hurt) until the Warfarin tablets can take over. I’ll also need a programme of regular blood tests to monitor my progress. They’re also going to do an ultrasound of my legs to check the blood vessels out there (PEs usually start as deep vein thrombosis clots in the legs that travel to the lungs).

I’m not sure at the moment what recovery time is like, although Danielle and I have noticed that I am somewhat less breathless over the last few days. This will be because the Clexane is preventing the existing clots from growing, and natural processes in my body are slowly reducing them in size. I’ll know more after my appointment tomorrow.

Thanks to everyone who has sent well-wishes, via Twitter, Facebook, this blog, email, SMSs, etc. Thanks to my friends Richard and Rhiannon, Toby and Lucy, and Scott and Ali, who all immediately offered to do anything they could to help us out – lifts to hospitals, for example. And most of all, thanks to Danielle for looking after me (and also calling the PE diagnosis really early on!)

And thanks to Clexane for quite possibly saving my life.

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  1. whltexbread said: Wow. My thoughts/prayers are with you. Stay healthy dude!
  2. girl-detective said: Hang in there!
  3. tymethiefslongerthoughts said: Well that’s not the best news ever but… YAY FOR A DIAGNOSIS… since that at least means you’re getting somewhere. Fingers crossed for a quick recovery, be well.
  4. onesmallfire said: So glad you got a diagnosis before it got worse. I hope the warfarin does it’s job and you’re back to a normal life soon. I’ve got you and Danielle in my thoughts. Keep us posted.
  5. rawnsley said: My money was on man-flu, but I’m glad you got a diagnosis. In the future you will be transplanted into an iBody anyway with huge robot hands and oil for blood.
  6. schmidlap said: Sounds like good news on balance…glad to hear it.
  7. redcloud said: Hurray for diagnoses! Now, on to the speediest possible recovery!
  8. penllawen posted this

 

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