Where I've been since Monday

While my super sweet, supportive, sleepy husband takes a nap in the recliner next to my hospital bed, I figured I could take this opportunity to update my blog with the events of my crazy week. This is the first I've been on a computer since early Monday.
I thought I had a blood clot in my leg as early as last Wednesday or Thursday but hoped it was just some sore muscles from standing on my feet much more than I was used to with my new job. By the time Sunday rolled around, however, I was pretty sure it was a blood clot. And still, I didn't want to have to pay an ER bill if I could get testing done to confirm it in another way. I had Monday off work, so I figured I would call my OB's office and see what she suggested I do. I didn't get to talk to her, but a nurse told me to go to the ER to get a doppler on my leg (and medication for a blood clot if I actually did have one) because they wouldn't be able to do that at their office anyway.

So I let Joe and my parents know I was going to the ER. Then I took a shower. Right after the shower, I had to lay down and prop up my leg because of the pain. After a while, I got up again and dressed, but I had to lay down and prop up my leg again. Clearly something was wrong. I finally got to the ER. There was one other person who was waiting to be taken back as well, but when the check-in desk saw that my heart rate was 130 and my blood pressure was something like 140/101, as well as the fact I was pregnant and had a history of a blood clot and was short of breath, they took me back to a room quickly.
I had an EKG done immediately. I also had blood work done. I was put on oxygen and a blood thinner, given a doppler and an ultrasound, given a CAT scan on my chest, and was admitted to the hospital.

Not only do I have a blood clot in my calf, but the blood clot in my calf extends up the back of my calf past my knee and part of it had broken off and traveled to my lungs. So I have blood clots in my lungs too.

On Tuesday I was taken in to surgery to have a filter put in to catch any more blood clots that might break off so no more travel to critical organs (I'm really lucky to be alive, actually). Because I'm pregnant, I can't take the most common blood thinner out there (which is a pill form) and instead have to give myself shots in the stomach twice a day throughout the rest of my pregnancy (and a doctor recommended that I be on blood thinners the rest of my life). Eventually, my body will dissolve the blood clots that are in my leg and lungs, but I am having some shortness of breath (mostly after talking and walking) and pain my leg (especially when I'm not lying down with my leg elevated). So I will be out of work for a few weeks when I return home from the hospital.

I had to stay to make sure there was a therapeutic level of the blood thinner in my blood (too much or too little is a very bad thing!) and was supposed to be released on Thursday. However, the hospital learned (on Thursday) that my insurance company won't cover the blood thinner injections they started giving me on Tuesday, so they'd have to switch to a different brand and make sure I was at a therapeutic level of that blood thinner. That extended my stay until today.

But I'm still in the hospital and will be here until Monday. Apparently pharmacies don't carry the dose of the blood thinner I will be taking and will have to special order it, which takes overnight. However, apparently pharmacies don't do the overnight deliveries from Saturday night to Sunday, so the blood thinner won't make it in to the pharmacy until some time on Monday (my doctor made it sound like it might not get there until Monday evening). So once I'm given my first injection on Monday, I will finally get to go home! But I won't be very mobile for a while!

I have had a lot of visitors, which I appreciate. I have some nice flowers to look at which helps improve the view some. We're going to have dinners brought over for at least a couple days when I get out, which will also be nice. My OB came in to the hospital on Tuesday and met me, and I will be seeing her on Wednesday after getting out. I'll also be buying $200 compression stockings to help with my leg circulation (and hopefully the pain eventually). I have a feeling I'm going to be basically hanging out on the couch for a couple weeks.