On Monday I was in severe pain... and had been for 15 days.
Mystery pain.
The doctors I saw gave me 5 'provisional' diagnoses.
Provisional is doc talk for Scientific Wild Ass Guess!
One of the diagnoses was very worrisome... Deep Vein Thrombosis in the upper left leg.
DVT is a condition that spawns, in the quaint jargon of medicine, "throws' clots. You know those pesky little coagulations of blood, that travel to your brain, jam the pipes, and give you a STROKE!
Was I worried?
Well, yes, a little.
In a recent post on my Beyond the Pain Blog I conjectured that the real cause was likely psychogenic in origin.
But, with something as potentially risky as DVT one doesn't want to mess around.
My doctor gave me a lab requisition and his nurse asked me to book a sonogram.
When I did that the radiology company set up a date....in March, more than a month away. Jokingly I said to the booking agent, "well I could be dead by then." She laughed and defensively said, "Well. It's a very special procedure and we only do it at one location and that's the first open slot!" I replied, "Fine. But, could you put me on a waiting list in case something opens up sooner?" Ah, well, ah.. maybe -- is the essence of her reply. I'm thinking, "one more thing for me to track!"
Long story short.
Monday when I'm asking my doctor for an Rx for more pain killers, he finally gets the significance of what I told him a week before -- the damn test wouldn't happen for 5 weeks. BIG RISK!
He pulls some strings and 30 minutes after the conversation about pain killers the nurse calls and says, in her typical blunt Maritime way, "Got a pen? Take down this information! Tomorrow, 10:55 you have an appointment for an ultrasound! at [x]. You know where that is?" "Yes," I reply.
Guess doctor pulled some strings. Called in some favours.
Really I wasn't worried that it WAS DVT. Really.
But, still I was relieved to have the appointment...
and the drugs!
To be continued....
