Last week, I shared photos of my injuries from falling off our boat. This past Saturday, it wasn’t any smaller and was, in fact, larger. I found a sports medicine place in Tampa that was not only open on Saturday, but also had an urgent care center on site, so off I went.
Turns out the large glob sticking out of my leg is a blood clot that is now the consistency of gelatin, which is not unusual for this type of injury. It will take “several weeks” to be reabsorbed into my body. They gave me the option of draining it. The doc said they would make an incision and insert a tube but it would take quite awhile because sucking out gelatinous material through a tube can be time consuming. He lost me at the word “incision.” Plus, doing that would increase the chance of infection, and also prolong the healing process because the natural drainage channels would be disrupted.
The lump is so large that you can see it sticking out of my leg under my dress. Wearing shorts is out of the question because I don’t want to terrify young children, nor make adults faint.
The doc said the risk of a blood clot traveling to my lungs or elsewhere is very low because of the location of the injury but he advised me to start taking aspirin as a precaution. He also told me to switch from ice to a heating pad but I switched BACK to ice last night. Each time I have to be up and about for an hour or more, it swells more. And, then it doesn’t go back down. So, it just keeps getting bigger. See?
YUMMY!
Our Managing Editor, Brian Whiddon, and I are teaching a class at a local middle school tomorrow. Other than that, I will be on my back with my leg up as much as possible for the foreseeable future. Kinda sucks but I am very lucky. If I’d hit my head that hard, I’d be dead.
Brian is also our captain and I’ve asked him to start looking for a local firm to custom build a gang plank for us. I would be devastated if this happened to one of the children. Of course…they are far more graceful than I am. 😉
Part III of this story (about the E.R. doc treating me like a junkie) is RIGHT HERE.
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Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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My Goodness!!! Maybe someone should wrap you up in a big, big ball of cotton for protection. Mercy!!! that wasn’t any fun at all. (But you sure did describe it well!)
As a retired dentist who practiced almost forty years and who has prescribed a fair number of narcotics, I can tell you the hysteria regarding opiates today borders on insanity. I was also a dental scientific editor for an award-winning journal, and I can tell you that you MUST follow the money. Who is providing the money for the article and/or who stands to gain financially from its publication?
Secondly, I abhor articles where the conclusion is reached before the data are analyzed or worse: where data are massaged to give the result desired.
This is what has happened, at least in part with opioids.
Couple that with the FDA removing a drug, Propoxyphene (Darvon) that until the last decade had been in use since the 60’s? So a prescriber had to go from NSAIDS or Tylenol to hard narcotics: Codeine, Hydrocodone, Oxycodone, Dilaudid, or Morphine. The last two mentioned are primarily for severe cancer pain at the terminus of life.
Physicians and dentists are afraid to buck the system and therefore, sometimes true pain goes begging for relief.
“Take an aspirin and call me in the morning.”
“S***w you and the horse you rode in on!”
What has happened is that those who know everything there is to know have decreed there is an opioid crisis. Let me be clear: there is! But what those who have lost sight of reality do to invigorate their position is throw EVERYTHING into the mix. It is not fair and it is not TRUE!
Fentanyl is a marvelous drug when used in a CONTROLLED setting (read surgery, with monitored medical support and observation). No One prescribes it to be taken as Hydrocodone, or Oxycodone. Yet, the statisticians eagerly throw it into the mix because, “People are dying from it!” And just because if can to America via the drug cartels doesn’t make a difference.
To that I would answer, “DANGED STRAIGHT! What do you think happens when the unsuspecting kid in search of a high get some weed that has been cut with Fentanyl? So, can we be HONEST in our concern?! (Dang, I love the interrobang, Angela! And thank you for using it). There’s a large enough crisis without resorting to yellow data.
I never let my patients hurt. But I didn’t feed their habits either. I’ve seen teeth so rotten that they look like a vortex of decay in the center. But guess what? They would NEVER let you extract that tooth. It’s their conduit to pain meds. Not with me. It is RARE that a tooth with an exit (the open channel) results in pain, but it LOOKS terrible. “Poor thing”.
Doctor shopping is a reality, too. But I know at least in Tennessee that before I could write a prescription for a narcotic I must first contact a data center that can advise me how many narcotics have been prescribed for this patient by other physicians and dentists.
The pendulum has swung so far that I am fearful that some will be allowed to go in severe pain, but this modality helps with that. Corporate medicine and dentistry has exacted a price, a price where there are NO relationships anymore and doctors are left to raw data. So, one might be ignored or under served is a real fear.
I am of the persuasion that most physicians and dentists CARE. But some have such a terminal case of hubris they end up under-treating. So the relationship you forge with your practitioner is critical. Honesty with your practitioner is paramount. In this way, you can help the pendulum to swing back to normalcy.
Wow! Thank you so much for all of this info., Zack!! It’s great to hear from an actual doc who knows how the narcotics enforcement really works.
By the way, we got your book put up for sale on BookLocker TODAY! 🙂
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Big hugs!
Angela
Yikes! Poor you! I agree with your decision to allow your body to do the draining and re-absorption on its own. Modern medicine is amazing but not infallible. Take care!
Yeah, allowing them to slice my leg open and insert a big tube introduces the chance of infection. 🙁
So sorry about your accident. The bad thing is you hurt yourself. Be careful, don’t overdo. The good thing is it appears you do not have osteoporosis.
I didn’t think about that, Ethel! Yeah, it’s a miracle I didn’t break anything. The way my leg looked instantly after it happened sure appeared as though it was broken. Then, I had to make myself try to walk on it. Hurt like a (bleep) but I COULD walk, thank goodness. Getting people with broken bones off of boats is very difficult, even for skilled paramedics. They much prefer you get off the boat yourself so they can throw you on a gurney on the dock. 😉
Hi Angela
To speed up the re-absorption of that haematoma you could try largish doses of Vitamin C (2-3 grams per day, divided, preferably the soluble type).
The other combination I used to treat bruises on my horses as well as my son and his pals when they fell out of trees / off ponies etc., was a gel made from Witch Hazel and Arnica.
Here’s the Google link to horse supply places in your neck of the woods – you could call a couple and see if they have something like it. It really is amazing! Suze St Maur
https://www.google.com/search?safe=active&q=horse+supply+stores+tampa+florida&npsic=0&rflfq=1&rlha=0&rllag=28062543,-82579208,7580&tbm=lcl&ved=2ahUKEwivwf-Eh9neAhVMLMAKHScUBPwQtgN6BAgEEAU&tbs=lrf:!2m1!1e2!2m1!1e3!2m1!1e16!3sIAE,lf:1,lf_ui:10&rldoc=1#rlfi=hd:;si:;mv:!1m2!1d28.284183983309063!2d-81.92064144623373!2m2!1d27.826078976993767!2d-82.89773800385092!4m2!1d28.055375487375088!2d-82.40918972504232!5i11
Thank you so much, Suze! I’ve been taking 1000 mg of C at night and another 1000 mg each morning, along with extra vitamin D and A…and my multivitamin, of course. I’m going to check out those links now. It is taking FOREVER for the swelling to go down and for the huge clot (which I have affectionately named “pancake” because it feels like a 5″ x 5″ rubbery, fat pancake under my skin) to get smaller. I’m a very impatient person and I really hate being infirm and depending on everybody else to do everything for me. (Hey, Max, can you pretty please turn the TV toward me? Mason, can you bring me a bottle of juice, please? Richard, can you grab me another Klondike bar…and, by the way, did you see the grocery list I emailed to you? Brian, I need to elevate my leg for a couple of hours. Can you check my email for any emergencies?) I’m currently watching Call the Midwife while I work. Got burned out on campy Hallmark Channel Christmas specials. They’re like Harlequin Romances. The plots are all almost the same! 😉
I’m so glad the risk of a clot breaking free is low. That was my first concern. About 25 years ago, I helped a friend move. After we were finally finished, the only thing left to do was lift the metal ramp at the back of the truck and shove it back into the truck. It was heavy, so I pushed with all my might. And it jammed. Of course, I kept going, smashing the tops of both thighs into the metal ramp. Within 3 or 4 seconds, huge bruises the size of saucers appeared on both thighs. I was too scared to go to a doctor, afraid of what awful procedure might be necessary, or thinking maybe there was nothing that could be done. Anyway, it took SIX months for the bruises to go away, and when they finally did, they left permanent dents in my thighs where tissue had died. I have those dents to this day. I’m glad you saw a doctor and are taking action to help your healing. Your injury looks much worse than mine, but I think with your active participation in your healing, you’ll have a good outcome.
Yeah, I’m going to have a “dent” in my leg, too. I can feel it around the edges of the clot under my skin. Guess I’ll need to start wearing bermuda shorts instead of short shorts. 😉 I’m at the age where a few scars and deformities no longer bother me. I call them battle scars. If somebody doesn’t like me because I have a gimpy leg, then that’s not a friend I want to have. 😉
OUCH!
And then some.
You are very fortunate you did not break something the way you must have landed to do this kind of damage.
The crazy part is, like most ‘at home’ accidents, they happen out of the blue – when absolutely nothing is going on around you.
Be careful, Angela (good 20/20 hindsight advice, I know).
WOW!!! And, this didn’t happen during the storms???? You did a good job on yourself!! BE CAREFUL!!! 🙂