How I Dealt with My Leg Injury

I'm going to write about my recent leg injury in case it can help someone, especially for those who take blood thinners and/or have clotting issues.

We still do not know exactly why I had two pulmonary embolisms. I never had DVT. Don't have a genetic disorder for clotting. No auto-immune disease. I do have May Thurners Syndrome, but the compression isn't enough to contribute to clotting. Recently, my new hematologist confirmed I have thalassemia alpha and I'm anemic (as usual). Anyway, what this means is I'm prone to bruising and clots can happen due to an injury. That's what I hope won't happen. 

A lot of other blood clot patients always ask whether they should go to the ER for bruising or injury. My doctors always advise, YES. Even before I got up from my fall, we started compressing the painful area with ice. It helped keep my lower leg from swelling. I should have also iced my knee, but it only started hurting by late afternoon. By that time the ice we brought had already melted. 

I didn't go to the ER since I had 3 doctor appointments lined up. My first appointment was with my cardiologist. He took a look at the area that already started bruising. He insisted I go see an orthopedic doctor to make sure I hadn't broken anything. We squeezed in seeing him before my second appointment. The doctor did some tests and poked around my leg. Made me stand and since my humor was still intact, declared it was just a contusion. Whew!

We finished the two other appointments, but by the time we got home I could barely walk and my knee was really painful. That's when I realized I should have iced it too. It was too late. I kept a stiff upper lip, but by early evening I took paracetamol to ease the pain. Ice compress for 48 hours, then warm compress after 48 hours. New bruises showed up on my left foot after 48 hours. Well, that is the peril of being a clotter. We have to monitor closely, drink lots of fluids and make sure I walk around hourly to keep from clotting.

Cold compress. See a Doctor. More cold compress + some painkiller if need. Then warm compress after 48 hours. And MOVE. 

#BeKind #StaySafe