Public Service Announcement From Netpiddler

[Netpiddler]

Hi all

While this post probably belongs in the "Chit Chat" forum I hope it stays where more people will read it...

This has been a somewhat "trying" time for me...

Those that know me know I have been battling frequent lung illness for some time now (pneumonia, bronchitis, pleurisy) and I have been under going frequent tests the past weeks to try and narrow down some of the causes of the issues I was having.

A few days after I had follow-up xrays and CT scans for my lung issues I started having left leg pains. It started in the back of my leg and went to the area behind my knee and my entire calf. The feeling was like a good leg workout where you have a "pumped" feeling - but it wouldn't go away. Stretching only made it worse... After about a week the pain lessoned and moved to just a narrow path down my inner thigh.

I visited the doctor on Monday to get the results of some previous blood tests and casually mentioned the pain in my leg. (I almost didn't mention it because it had gotten better). He told me to go straight to the hospital and get checked for blood clots.

It turned out I have "deep vein thrombosis" and was immediately admitted to the hospital, put on blood thinners and anti-biotics, and ordered complete bed rest. The tests showed not one but a series of clots down my inner thigh.

I was released from the hospital after 4 days and I am on an unusually high level of anticoagulants in order to maintain a blood level that does not further contribute to the clotting, so over the next few weeks I will be having frequent blood tests to adjust my medications and monitor for internal bleeding etc. Once the meds are reduced to a more normal level in the coming weeks I should me more than fine.

I have been ordered to stay off my feet this first week so as to not "break loose" any of the clotting and it looks like I have to continue the meds and monitoring for 6-9 months until my body starts to naturally break down the clotting. I even have sexy white "anti-embolism" pantyhose that I must wear on both legs which can only be off for 1hr a day. I think I'll be trashing those soon though lol!

The frightening thing about this whole ordeal is men in general will not go to the doctor unless they are practically on their death bed - I am the same way. I had just told my wife prior to that doctor visit Monday that I was burned out with all the tests, doctor and hospital visits and ready to get back to "normal life"...

I almost didn't mention the leg pain and only did so in the doctors office after some prompting by the wife. Due to the extensive clotting I was later told I would have likely had a fatal embolism had I not had it treated right away. In the doctor's best English his words were - "You cannot know how lucky you have been until now"...

Shortly before I went into the hospital we learned my sister-in-law (wife's youngest sister) has advanced ovarian cancer and has been given 12-18 months to live - she is in her early twenties...

While I was in the hospital I recieved a call from my mother to say my grandmother had just had 3 heart attacks and a stroke and that it wasn't looking good for her... As of now she is still fighting the good fight but no longer knows who she is and can't speak intelligably...

My uncle who has lived with grandma all his life has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and some other mental issues from the Vietnam War and has started on a mental decline since her heart attacks/stroke...

It just goes to show that no matter how bad you think you got it - someone else has it much worse.

While I did not come here to preach to anyone, I am hoping that someone somewhere will take something positive from this. When you have health issues - get them looked into or you and your family might regret the choice not to.

It is easy to get lulled into complacency or a sense of security. But what if you learned you only had 12-18 months to live? What would you do if you only had 60 days to live? Ponder those questions and realize that many people have zero warning when their time is up so how much did they miss out on?

Most of us have family that we would die for no questions asked. I think we also owe it to them to "Live" for them as well. Don't let complacency or laziness rob you of the adventure life should be.

Take care of yourselves!

- Netpiddler