Pain in the calf...maybe quite serious


 
S

Steve Petrone

TVWBB Platinum Member
A month ago I had a deep pain in my calf muscle. Probably a muscle strain/pain...it went a way. I did schedule a physical with my new doc. At that visit, the pain was back though milder. I asked to get a confirmation that this wasn't vascular in nature. Went next-door to the hospital for a scan. In 15 seconds he found a clot blocking my femoral vein. Commonly called DVT-deep vein thrombosis. Not good news. I was shipped directly to the ER for a 5 1/2 hour wait.
The hospital had been full for a week. No let up at ER with some waits over 12 hours. I finally got a bed in the hallway next to the nurses station. Saw the doc and he ordered a full chest scan to see all the vascular pathways. Both my lungs had multiple blood clots. Time for a heart scan...

The heart is doing well considering. The lungs aren't at full capacity because of the clots and there is the lingering clot in my leg. But I am doing surprisingly well. This being a teaching hospital, I saw a lot of docs. They were amazed I wasn't on oxygen or otherwise unable to function. I have been lucky, the blood thinners are are working their magic and we hope the clots do not return. I am getting stronger each day. I decided to avoid the public because of covid.

So, please do not ignore deep calf pain. DVT can be fatal. Clots in the lungs and stress on your heart are not good. Go to the doc straightaway. Or the ER.
 
Steve Petrone said:
So, please do not ignore deep calf pain. DVT can be fatal. Clots in the lungs and stress on your heart are not good. Go to the doc straightaway. Or the ER.
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Excellent advice. I just went through a series of Sonograms because of calf pain and swelling. Luckily, they saw no clots and veins and arteries are clear. I've been on blood thinners for a year so not a surprise. The suspicion is my pain is caused by my lower back due to the 20 lbs. I gained last year. Since Vietnam my back gives me big problems if I get above 190 lbs. and I got up to 205. Glad to hear you're getting better. Stay safe.
 
Steve Petrone said:
A month ago I had a deep pain in my calf muscle. Probably a muscle strain/pain...it went a way. I did schedule a physical with my new doc. At that visit, the pain was back though milder. I asked to get a confirmation that this wasn't vascular in nature. Went next-door to the hospital for a scan. In 15 seconds he found a clot blocking my femoral vein. Commonly called DVT-deep vein thrombosis. Not good news. I was shipped directly to the ER for a 5 1/2 hour wait.
The hospital had been full for a week. No let up at ER with some waits over 12 hours. I finally got a bed in the hallway next to the nurses station. Saw the doc and he ordered a full chest scan to see all the vascular pathways. Both my lungs had multiple blood clots. Time for a heart scan...

The heart is doing well considering. The lungs aren't at full capacity because of the clots and there is the lingering clot in my leg. But I am doing surprisingly well. This being a teaching hospital, I saw a lot of docs. They were amazed I wasn't on oxygen or otherwise unable to function. I have been lucky, the blood thinners are are working their magic and we hope the clots do not return. I am getting stronger each day. I decided to avoid the public because of covid.

So, please do not ignore deep calf pain. DVT can be fatal. Clots in the lungs and stress on your heart are not good. Go to the doc straightaway. Or the ER.
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One of my best friends had the exact same experience as you a couple of months ago. The meds dissolved the clots in his leg and lungs and he hopes to be back to work in two weeks. Hope you have the same success Steve! 🤞🏻🙏
 
PSA: if you are on anti-clotting agents or blood thinners, wear a Medic-Alert device identifying the compounds. If you require emergency treatment, giving the EMTs this knowledge may save your life as it will change their treatment of you. If you're bleeding, they won't assume that you'll clot.

Good to see that you're still with us, Steve.
 
JKalchik said:
PSA: if you are on anti-clotting agents or blood thinners, wear a Medic-Alert device identifying the compounds. If you require emergency treatment, giving the EMTs this knowledge may save your life as it will change their treatment of you. If you're bleeding, they won't assume that you'll clot.

Good to see that you're still with us, Steve.
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Does a baby aspirin count as this? Although being a diabetic I should wear a bracelet I guess.
Glad to hear you're on the mend Steve. Sounds really scary
 
LMichaels said:
Does a baby aspirin count as this? Although being a diabetic I should wear a bracelet I guess.
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That's an intelligent question, considering that acetysalicylic acid does retard clotting. NSAIDs in general are frequently restricted prior to surgeries. Having said that, not that I'm aware of.

From discussions with my g/f (long time blood banker,) the older anti-clotting agents have an effective reversal treatment that can be administered in the case of trauma. There's a new family of anti-clotting agents that are apparently more effective, and may be easier to get to a therapeutic dose, but have no effective quick reversal treatment.

In short, if you're on anti-clotting agents, have a chat with your health care providers about this, especially in light of emergency situations.

Re: your particular situation, yes, I would recommend a Medic-Alert. I've been wearing one for 20+ years (insulin dependent for 5+.)
 
Glad you caught it.
Clots are the things that debilitating , paralyzing, strokes are caused by.

My mother sufferred terrible stroke that paralyzed half her body, left her unable to speak or communicate. It was a miracle she survived in first place.

Came from blood clot in leg. Clots hit her brain, lungs, colon, etc. She had 5 major organ systems fail at same time.

Can happen to older people just from a bump or fall.

Everyone needs to be familiar with stroke symptoms....minutes count.

Some clots will travel all over body, lodge in places. Particularly nasty is the colon. When a part of colon dies, it turns your blood septic.....
 
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Thanks all for your comments-I just had to share because I did not handle this correctly the first time around out of ignorance, stupidity....
 
Glad to hear you caught it! I'm getting varicose veins done in my legs due to circulation issues and swelling in my ankles procedures are quite a bit different than they used to be. You never know what could pop up.
 
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