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Monday 8 April 2013

Wonderfully weird weekend

Has been almost a week since being in touch! That's not because nothing has been happening, quite the contrary.

On Friday Lea and I travelled over on the Blueridge Ferry to visit my brother Vincent and his partner, Dixie in Moutere, Nelson.

It was a pleasant trip though hopping around on crutches was somewhat challenging and inhibiting. There is a twist to this that I'll explain at the end.

On arriving at my brother's after a 3 hour boat ride and 2 hour car journey we had a few celebratory ales. Always love catching up with Vincent and Dixie as they are really relaxing to be around and of course the drinks didn't hurt.

On Saturday morning after my morning coffee I got out my guitar and Vincent and I played some songs with backing vocals from Lea. Later in the morning Lea and I went to Nelson to check out Dixie's market where she sells their home-made pottery and screen printed pillow cases. Lea enjoyed checking out what we call the arty crafty stalls. Of course after a tiring morning we needed to reward ourselves with a few more liquid refreshments.

As promised there was a sting to the tale of the hip disability. A bit of background first!

Earlier in the week I had noticed my left foot becoming a little red but no other issues as my hip was mending well. On Friday as we travelled to Nelson my lower left leg started to swell and become tight in the calf. This continued through until Saturday night when we decided we should get it checked out. An appointment was made for 10:00 Sunday morning.

On awaking Sunday the leg was still swollen but no worse so there was a lengthy debate whether it was bad enough to be looked at. The women voted that it was better to have things ruled out than be worrying about it.

When we arrived at the doctor's after a 2 minute inspection the verdict was a suspected blood clot. I was marched directly to jail, in this case Nelson Hospital.

Two hours later after a scan the clot was identified and blood thinning injection administered.

I am so glad that I took advice, swallowed my pride and had the leg checked because as the doctor pointed out a blood clot can move to the lungs and can be fatal.

Some interesting observations have been made recently on my fortunes and unusual facts have been discovered.

1. I was one out of 250 cyclists in the race who had a serious crash.
2. There is a one in ten chance of developing a blood clot after hip surgery
3. The doctor located two adjoining veins in my upper leg where most people have one. There are one in a 100 who have this irregularity.
4. My resting pulse of 40 has created some concerns and interest amongst the medical teams I have seen recently.

It is times like this that you appreciate loved ones who help you and give you support.

Thanks to Maria who sent me a book called Crutches and a lovely get well card.

Thank you all the readers and followers of my recent posts on Depression who told their stories and empathised with my battles.

Due to being on a different lap top and no access to photos I am limited on what I can post.

Back home now and time to rest a lttle more. It would seem my recovery might take a little longer due to the clot. Injections initially and tablets for the next 3 months to thin the blood will be required.

I suppose I better get to some posts now and make a few comments before my followers desert me, thinking they have been forgotten!

Before I go here is the link for an original called Know You're Not Alone that I wrote on a train for Lea about a year ago.

Be in touch soon!

10 comments:

  1. Paul,
    Your good luck continues! SO HAPPY that you had that checked out. Your pulse is at 40!? Wow, just shows what a great athlete you are!
    Take care!
    Love,
    Kay (I have not been able to leave comments, hope this gets to you!)

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  2. whew...glad that the blood clot was found and taken care of before it became something much worse....go with the flow man...and good job not trying to man up and getting yourself checked out...pride will kill you...smiles.

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  3. You should always listen to women...we are always right!
    Jane x

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  4. Hi Paul! I was thinking "blood clot" in the middle of this post, so I'm very glad you got that resolved. A slow recovery is much better than no recovery.

    Your odds of injury were bad, but how many bike races have you been in with all going well? You're just a very active guy, and some amount of bad luck happens to everyone.

    :-) Marion

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  5. Paul, I knew immediately what was happening when you described your symptoms...very serious and I'm so glad you sought medical attention. My hubby got a clot the day his cast came off after he had surgery for an achilles tendon tear. He was in the hospital on bed rest for a week and then had the usual treatment of pills for about 6mo...he hated it! I was so worried then because my Dad died of a clot to his lungs after surgery. So don't delay, get things checked out when something just doesn't look right. You'll be 100% again one day, just hang in there! Your heart rate could be slow because you're an athlete...that's not unusual but I'm sure they will continue to check on it!

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  6. It really was the right thing to do to have your leg checked out. Honestly, I wouldn't take any chances with my health after what you already have to endure!
    Great that you could make the trip and see your brother and his partner.

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  7. My goodness, a blood clot! So glad that you got it checked out; great work, Lea and Dixie :-) Great to hear that the parcel arrived safely. I think that Wayne the author, was going to start a blog up so he could share his cartoons as he does new ones.

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  8. Well thank goodness for sensible people, Paul. Without them ... oh well, that won't occur. With so many unusual facts to your credit I think that makes you famous.... No? Let's hope it all goes one way now with no further hiccups.

    I'm glad you like the Mrs Brown video. I posted one last week which I thought was funny, but I think I laughed more at the latest one. I keep watching it, so it must be better....lol.

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  9. Oh my gosh. I am so glad the clot was found and that you are on the road to recovery. Good wishes and prayers for a full healing.

    FlowerLady

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