My luck with side effects is fucking awesome. Although, it’s not 100% for sure, estrogen and progesterone likely played a role at least.
I spent Tuesday and Wednesday in the hospital being diagnosed for swelling in my right calf/ankle. After answering the same bloody 5 questions at least 10 times, 2 blood tests, 1 ultrasound, 1 ECG, 1 IV, 1 CT scan with flourescent dye added to my blood and 12 hours in emergency over those 2 days, I was diagnosed with 2 blood clots. 1 in my leg, 1 in my lung.
This is life threatening. Clots can break away and cause aneurysms or pulmonary embolisms. Both of which can be fatal. The clot in my lung is a pulmonary embolism. It may have come from a clot in my other leg.
I probably should have gone to the hospital a few days earlier. I already suspected a blood clot myself, but felt I was being a hypochondriac. It was just a pulled muscle. Even though I didn’t actually strain it. Then the swelling started. This I passed off as a side effect of physio treatment the day before. Then the swelling got worse, and the pain got worse, and I got nauseous from said pain.
Finally, I gave in to seeing someone. Teresa drove me to the physiotherapist’s office, where he promptly sent us to the ER.
I’m on rivaroxaban. 3 weeks at twice a day, then another month at a lower rate. The pain and swelling are a bit better, but still annoying. Still a bit short of breath.
I had been very stoic through this whole process, but after the CT scan I started to break down. I just wanted to curl up in a ball on my girlfriend’s lap and cry and cry and cry. Then when I got told to stop hormones, I lost it in the hospital. Then I got discharged, and bawled again in the car. Then, again, while driving home.
The girlfriend came over last night (this is a new girlfriend by the way – story later) to console me, distract me, and bring me food. We watched a horrible movie and made fun of all the various fantasy tropes that were present. Managed to laugh a lot and not cry until I went to bed. Thank you hun!