I have already posted this on YD, so apologies for boring those of you who frequent there too. However, if anyone else can learn from my experience I thought I'd post it here too.
In the middle of last week I developed a hurty leg. It felt like I’d strained a muscle in my calf. It was several days after I had been diving, and I just thought I’d pulled a muscle poncing around in my high heels at work. I’ve done that before. It’ll go away, thinks I. Just get on with it and don’t be a wimp.
By Saturday and Sunday it was considerably worse. I couldn’t stand on my leg when I got up in the morning and it was ‘throbbing’ and felt very tender.
Monday morning I got up and the pain was so bad I wanted to cry
. I’ve only twice before had pain that made me want to weep (I’m quite good with pain) but I bit my lip really hard like a good little soldier and fought back the tears
.
I got to work and phoned the Doctor’s surgery immediately they opened. Please note, if I had thought for one moment I was bent, I would have phoned the pot long before then. I’ve made the call before for reassurance and I don’t do denial.
Anyhoo, I got a doctors appointment for Monday evening. The Doc takes a look at my leg, measures both calves and says that although my left leg isn’t swollen, he wants me to go straight to the hospital to get a test for a DVT (deep vein thrombosis) as a precaution. He’ll ring me that night when he gets the results.
Just over an hour later I am sat at home (on YD, surprisingly) when I get the call. My ‘levels’ are raised. This may mean several things, but it could mean I have a clot. He’ll ring the Doc at the Hospital to see what they want me to do – go tonight or wait til the morning.
Sooo, 6.30 I arrive at South Shields General having been told to get my ass up there that night. They are expecting me, and a bed has been booked for me in Admissions – scary
! I see the nurse in A&E after an hour wait. She rings the Doc on the Admissions ward who my GP spoke to. He’s a locum who doesn’t normally work there. She tells him normal procedure is not to be admitted, but for him to prescribe an injection of enoxaparin (anti-coagulant) and to pack me off home with an appointment for a scan the next day. Hurrah! I’ll be outta here soon. He wants more blood tests before he gives me the injection. Why? I’ve just had a blood test! That’s why I’m here. The nurse tells me the bloods will take about an hour, then the Doc will come down to prescribe the jab. This is 7.45pm.
9.30pm I ask the nurses what’s happening. Oh, they know you’re here. You’ll just have to wait. 10pm, they close the day A&E down. Everyone on this list please come to the night A&E next door. My name’s not on the list. I just sit here? Good, can’t be long now then. 10.45pm I find a nurse. What’s happening? Eventually they track down the Doc in Admissions who tells them just to give me the needle down there and send me home. FFS! Couldn’t he have done that two hours ago? 11.15 I leave the hospital utterly miserable and just a tad annoyed :angry: .
Next day I get a call at work. I’m to go to the Admissions ward at 3.15pm for an ultrasound scan.
I get the scan, the Doc says I may have a small clot. An hour later the nice young lady Doc in Admissisons say the scan is inconclusive. They would rather treat a not-clot than not treat a clot, so I get another jab and after three hours in the hospital I’m on my way home. I have to come back the next day after she has conferred with the Ultrasound man. Diving is off this weekend then…:frown:
So, yesterday I go back for another jab and a chat with another nice lady Doctor. I do have a DVT. A very small clot in my calf where it has been hurting. I need a week of daily enoxaparin, after which they will scan me again. If it’s gone, the treatment ends. I have opted to self administer the jabs at home rather than traipse to the hospital every day.
If the clot is still there after the scan, I had two options. Six weeks of warfarin (don’t they give that to pensioners?) or four weeks of self administering the enoxaparin. I opted for the latter. It will mean I never have to declare I’ve taken warfarin on a medical questionnaire, which makes me feel a bit better.
After next weeks scan, I can ring a dive doc to see if I can dive whilst I am on the enoxaparin for four weeks, if it turns out it is necessary. The good news is that in any event I can dive again no problem once the treatment is over
So, lesson learnt: Don’t dismiss what you think is a strained muscle in your leg if it gets worse. Go see the Doc.
I didn’t realise just how much diving is now not just what I do, but who I am. Sat in A&E for five hours it occurred to me that someone might tell me I can’t dive again. Ever. Until you are actually faced with the possibility I don’t think you realise (well for me anyways) just what a massive thing that would be. I’m a diver. My friends are divers. My spare time is diving, talking about diving, fettling kit. I wouldn't be so shallow as to say 'life' would be over if I couldn't dive, but life as I currently know and enjoy it would. Thankfully, it hasn’t come to that.
Safe diving everyone.
Helen xxx
Oh, and Moz quickly offered to take my place on the Glanmire on Saturday. What a star...
