Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Apologies and Explanations

Wow, you guys are still reading this? You like me, you really like me! (Or you're bored out of your mind, but I'll take it!) I really honestly do have an excuse for the break this time, so I'll lay it out and you can take it as you will.

Roughly three weeks ago, shortly after Scott came home from his field exercise, I was doing my nightly stretch and aerobic routine on the bedroom floor. I was feeling pretty energetic, so I decided to work out a bit longer than usual, then crawled my way into bed. About two hours after falling asleep I woke up with a searing pain in my left thigh, so I got up, took a couple pain relievers, then went back to sleep, thinking I'd strained the muscle a bit with my Pilates routine. No big deal, right? I didn't think so either, until the pain decided to stick around. For a week. And get worse. I stubbornly insisted that I'd just pulled something and refused to let Scott take me to the doctor- until we noticed that my whole left leg was swelling up and turning purple. I finally consented to an appt., and after about ten minutes of hemming and hawing (and a joke about the color of my underwear matching my bulging veins) the doc told us that I had deep vein thrombosis- also known as really big painful clot in my leg syndrome. Being the optimistic nincompoop that I am, I asked the doc if he could work some magic and let us get on our way, since I had a pile of laundry and a cat to get home to. He was nice enough not to laugh in my face, but after laying on a table for THREE HOURS getting blood drawn and waiting for a heparin shot to be approved and sent from the pharmacy I kind of figured I wouldn't be getting home before suppertime.

A little background, here: I have a tendency to avoid anything smacking of Western medicine, period. Ibuprofen is as far as I'll go when it comes to pills, and just the thought of going to see a doctor is enough to usually send me running in the opposite direction. You can imagine that my week's stay in the hospital did NOT make me a happy camper. By the end of it I was telling the nurses exactly where they could take blood from, because I was tired of being stuck four times in a row only to have them look at me in surprise when my veins rolled neatly out of the way. I couldn't get dressed fast enough when they told me I was available for discharge, and the nurse had to stop me from hobbling out the door without my take home meds. Scott was a wreck the entire time I was gone, poor guy, but the real kicker came after we'd just gotten home and I was happily settled on the couch with a cat to pet and the hockey game on the computer. One of the five doctors that had seen me at the army hospital called not twenty minutes after we'd walked in the door to tell us that I was NOT supposed to be discharged, and that none of my bloodwork (for an entire week!) had made it back from the lab, so they were concerned about my leaving. Since I was already home he supposed I could stay, but I should call if I started having chest pains, etc. That was it. After a week of crap I finally had a good cry and felt much better about the whole mess. (But you couldn't drag me back to that hospital if you tried, darnit!)

The doctors weren't terribly helpful when it came to answering my questions regarding how exactly this had occurred, so it came as a surprise to me that my mom had the solution. Besides my redheaded tendency toward anemia, it seems that our family has quite the history of this sort of thing, and two of my older relatives have died from complications. Nice to know, eh? Sheesh. (My situation appears to be well in hand, so I'm not worried about it coming to that, but the news was a bit disconcerting to say the least.)

It's an ill wind that doesn't blow some good, though, and it seems that a little craziness was due in order to make way for the good news. WE'RE GETTING OUT!!!!!! Scott got the call last Thursday that he'd finally been assigned a caseworker, and the official separation from the Army would be starting this week. Of course this will take four to six months to finalize, but by this time next year we'll be living the civilian life far away from here! Yippee!!!!! I'm already getting offers about substitute teaching and church playing, so I'm looking forward to the move very much. Plus, we'll actually be purchasing our very first HOUSE instead of renting! I'm sure there will be lots of pictures once that time rolls around- I'm not terribly creative when it comes to decorating, but once I have a game plan I go at it with gusto, and I'd love to get feedback from people with a better eye than me. (And I'll actually have INTERESTING things to write about!) *Dances about happily on her good leg*

So, that's been the past month in a nutshell. A bit crazy, perhaps, but we're now (somewhat) back to normal, and good things are a'comin! Now I just have to figure out what I'm going to do for hubby's birthday next week.... Poor guy deserves something nice for his 25th! :)

8 comments:

JoeSinfonianOM said...

Holy crap, I hope that you're ok sis. Oh, and I'd definitely take the subbing offers. It's not a bad life, lol. ;0)

Running2Ks said...

Oh my goodness--being the medically-wary person I am I feel for you. But how frightening. I was checking in daily, and finally had to ask how you were doing and WOW! I hope you feel better.

And congrats on the separation! The possibilities are endless :)

Running2Ks said...

Happy Early Birthday to your husband :)

Bill said...

Glad your doing well, hon. Remember, there are two kinds of people that avoid doctors and medicine: Mormons and stubborn redheads. Shake the stubborn redhead part or people will think you're some guy's third wife.

Phantom Scribbler said...

Scary, scary, scary! I'm glad you're home now, and I hope it never happens again!

I'm so glad that the separation finally went through.

Anonymous said...

November is a good time for birthdays- Happy and healthier ones to come for the both of you!

Glad to hear Uncle Sam released the grip on your "facethewallandcoughers" and that the east coast will once again have a universal balance restored.

Anonymous said...

Oh my god, that is scary.

I'm glad you're ok, and Yay! on getting out of the army!

Anonymous said...

Holy crap, sweetheart, that's a lot for one week! You take care of yourself, okay? Who's going to take care of kitty and Scottie etc. if you're not taking proper (hospital if necessary!) care of yourself?
Well, the answer is me, actually. #grins# But I'm here at the moment, and you're there, which would make it difficult. So take care of yourself, okay?

And I am just absolutely over the moon about Scottie- it's about freakin' time, is all I'll say. #long hugs# I will inform the teeming masses on this end; everyone will be thrilled.