Chapter 7:
A Blood Clot?!
I arrived at Mayo Clinic’s ER a little after 10 PM, wishing I had stopped for some food on my way there, but glad I didn’t. They took me in to record my blood pressure and it was high, about 180/113. The nurse took it a few times because it was so high and I could tell how concerned he was. They took me in to ask me why I was there, so I went through the normal screening process. What’s your pain level from 1-10? asked the nurse. “about 6, 7” I said 😉 but I corrected my self and explained that the scale is hard for me because I think a 10 is a broken arm and I don’t usually complain about pain so maybe it’s more like an 8, it’s pain I’ve had for a few weeks I explained. “So why are you here?” “Honestly, God told me to, otherwise I wouldn’t have come. I just want to make sure it’s not a blood clot”. “What makes you think it’s a blood clot?” the nurse asked rolling her eyes. “I know nothing is swollen or red, but I’ve had the pain for more than 2 weeks and lately I feel like there’s warm water being pour behind my thigh” I said. She followed up with, “OK. Do you have a living will?” I replied with a worried, no, I don’t. “Ok, we’ll call you in, might need to do an ultrasound”.
30 minutes later, I was getting an ultrasound on my right leg. My groin was on fire. I can tell when the techs are worried; they are not allowed to discuss what they see before they confirm, but I knew I should be worried once the test was done. They took me back out to the waiting area and I found a spot at the empty kids table to do some Sudoku to distract myself from the pain. A few minutes after that, a nurse came out to greet me with a wheelchair and quietly told me: “maam, you do have a blood clot, we don’t want you walking around so if you need to go anywhere you need to use the wheelchair. We need to get a CT scan done to make sure there are no clots in your lungs and heart. Have you experienced any shortness of breath? Headache? Dizziness?” Maybe some shortness of breath a few times in the last few days I replied. “Ok, we’ll set up a room for you and prep you for a CT, just wait right here”.
A blood clot?! I’m only 37, I thought to myself. I know I’m overweight and work at a computer, but I move around a lot, A LOT! I move even more now with DoorDash because I have to go up the stairs. I called my mom to let her know, and she was worried; she wished she could be there with me. I assured her it would be ok as I remembered I didn’t have a Will ready. Who is going to take care of my mom, the dogs, and the house? I thought. How could I be so careless as not to have the paperwork done already? I should have signed that Life Insurance policy the auto insurance tried to sell me back in April. I don’t have anything ready.
Chapter 8: The CT Scan
