They didn't take enough blood for the test so I now I have to go and give another sample, and then wait until Monday for the results!
I was thinking more like "Oh damn, I dropped the tube"!
Do you have a drop in centre that's open on a Sunday near to you?I was thinking more like "Oh damn, I dropped the tube"!
I felt rough this morning for no apparent reason, so this does need to be sorted out before I end up back where I was last year or the year before.
I don't have time to go today, but I will have to find out about the drop in centre in Todmorden in case I need to use it in future. I know that the NHS were thinking of closing it, despite it being in an expensive new health centre and being valued by the local population. I'm not sure if they went ahead with the proposed closure after a big public outcry about it.
Like is for the first bit, not for feeling rough.I was thinking more like "Oh damn, I dropped the tube"!
I felt rough this morning for no apparent reason, so this does need to be sorted out before I end up back where I was last year or the year before.
The tubes/syringes they use there now can survive a fall onto the floor.I was thinking more like "Oh damn, I dropped the tube"!
I felt rough this morning for no apparent reason, so this does need to be sorted out before I end up back where I was last year or the year before.
I wasn't thinking breakage, more spillage - lid off, and the technician about to do the test when the tube was dropped ...
Sorry to hear you aren't well again Colin. Hope they can sort you out and get you back on the bike again soon!Time for an update ...
Things had been going very well - my breathing had improved, my heart rhythm had settled down, my legs were getting stronger, I had got 2,000 hilly miles in on my bikes. After 2 traumatic years, I thought I was recovering and might have got away with the only long-term damage being a sore and swollen leg. And then what I had been dreading for 2 years finally happened - I caught a cold ...
I know that a decent cold or 'flu bug would probably have killed me when I developed my first blood clots in the summer of 2012. I had no reserves left to fight infection, and could barely breathe as it was.
Then I went through the same process in summer of 2013, Revenge of the Clots!
Fortunately, I did not catch my cold until June 2014, when I was much healthier and able to withstand it. Unfortunately, it seems to have done me some damage. Here we are, 6 weeks later, and the shortness of breath, fluttery heart, sore leg, and nausea are back. This is how I felt both previous times that I clotted. I have been worrying that I may have scored a rather unpleasant summer clotting hat-trick ...
I had an appointment with my consultant yesterday (Thursday) and he agreed with me that a cold should not have caused this much of a problem so there might be something more sinister going on. I had a blood-test done to check for fresh clotting and should get the results by noon today (Friday).
It would be a pain if I had managed to clot while taking warfarin because that would imply that I need to increase my dose significantly, and that would increase my risk of suffering serious bleeding problems. Still, that might be a better result than some of the other possibilities ...
I am probably going to have a lung function test, an ultrasound scan of my heart, and maybe yet another CT scan. (I had a chest x-ray yesterday which didn't reveal much, but they are not good for spotting clots.) At this rate, if clots don't get me, the radiation from all these scans probably will!
Oh well, here we go again! At least this time, if something bad is going on, then I am currently still capable of cycling, albeit slower than I was riding even 4 or 5 months ago. I will just have to wait for the call from the doc to find out what happens next ...
I do my best to not notice anything! I look away until the whole procedure is done.
Cheers.
But ... what I can't understand is how s.o.b. (shortness of breath) caused by clots or scar tissue could come and go for no apparent reason! I asked the consultant whether asthma might be a possibility, which is why I am going to have a lung function test if clots are ruled out. Ha - maybe it is a combination of both problems! I might ask for a lung function test anyway even if there are clots which get sorted out by increasing my warfarin dose.
The drop in at Todmorden is open today but they "do not take blood samples". I don't know why they won't, given that a nurse on the same floor of the same building took a sample from me last Thursday, but there you go ...!
A missive to your MP maybe? Not that it helps you right now but not taking blood samples seems a bit daft.
I confess that the sad death of alans on last weekend's FNRTTC did focus my mind a little.
