So I think I have broke a rule that I just made up. If you go public with a health crisis or hospital trip you need to tell people what is actually happening and/or the reasons you are there. I first would like to thank everyone for their concern, even though no one knew what was actually happening. I am still getting messages from people to make sure I am ok and also to find out what actually happened…. So here we go……
This incident actually started a month ago. I was riding my skateboard on a nice day on the deck in my backyard. I tried to do a slide stop and went flying over a metal deck chair, did a sweet turn in the air clearing the chair but came down on my head and my leg hit the top corner of the chair as I went over it. Why is this incident valid? Well this incident screwed me a bit. The hit in the leg caused a vein to explode and caused some superficial clots. After a few days of pain I went to the doc, got a ultra sound…it came back clear so my doc and a second opinion doc said I was fine…..but it was still painful.
Fast forward a month and some crazy worse leg pain….went back to the new doctor (even though the people in his office suck (reception, nurses)) got another ultra sound and boom got me a deep vein clot. I have had a DVT before that turned into a PE in 04. This happened because of a driving trip to Vegas. I knew the protocol and what could happen if we treated it normally (normally being a 3 - 6 round of blood thinners and the let the body naturally break it up). I was worried about working out or hanging with friends and all of sudden strokin out or havin a heart attack. Also if the clot was big I didn’t want my vein to stretch out causing me problems later in life. I asked the doctor what are my options, knowing to myself I was not going to do the normal route on this one. He suggested a relativity “new” procedure of popping a catheter directly into the clot and pumping heavy thinners (TPA, Heparin) to dissolve the clot called Thrombolysis. He said that this was extremely risky as bleeding out, bleeding in the brain, bleeding in the stomach was a possibility. He said there were factors going for me on this (fresh clot, no disposition to clots, young, healthy, active) . But it’s a 2-24 hour procedure.
I adopted two mantras in recent years and I live by and will eventually die by I am sure. The first being “it is what it is” and the second being “Go Big or Go Home”.
Knowing that, I simply looked at the doctor and told him to sign me up for the procedure. The time was 5:15pm on Thursday, he said ok and left the exam room to call some doctors in the area. He found one in Fort Collins and he came back and said you need to check in to Poudre Valley at 8:00 am tomorrow, get some sleep. I said ok but it’s a game weekend. He said, “really?” and by the look on his face he was not too impressed so I said ok let’s do this…..
I wake up early Friday morning and my parents come pick me up. We get to the hospital to check in and of course nothing is set up. After going back and forth with my doctors’ receptionist and nurses in Laramie, which I hate dealing with them I finally get checked in.
Back to Poudre, I am now realizing this getting way to long so let me get the gist of this “story”. I get checked in, meet some nurses who assist with the procedure and the doctor. They explain what is going to happen and how it will go down. The doctor tells us the risks of this procedure and mother just starts crying. After that I told my parents to leave. Sitting in the hospital all I can think about is “it is what it is” I need to get this done and move on. I don’t think bad things or get depressed. I don’t take things very seriously. I know people care about me like my parents but the I don’t like people seeing me in a weak position. My parents did come everyday from Laramie to check one me, as well as others.
As they were injecting the anesthesia the doctor said “This is the worst part” and boom it was done. The procedure goes quick, the catheter in place and now I am tied to a IV machine with 3 bags…one with Heparin, one with TPA and then a normal saline. The Heparin and TPA are tied to the line going in to the back of my right leg. Very uncomfortable. They tell me I am going to my new home and a transport team arrives. The nurses finally gave me my phone back because they said I couldn’t post during my surgery. They take me to the ICU where I will eventually stay for 2 and half days. So things were good, I had lines coming out everywhere in my body (one in each arm near the elbow so they could get blood easy, IV in my right hand, the Cath lines in my leg). There is a pulse ox meter taped to my finger and pressure cuff always on my left arm that tightens on the hour. They checked my vitals every hour, gave me pain meds every 2 hours. There was a slight scare Friday afternoon because of massive migraines. They shot me down to CT to make sure I had no brain bleeding, things checked out ok and I got more pain meds because of it! There were many crazy realizations during my ICU stay. Friday two people died in the unit, I felt so bad because I was sitting there bull shitting with nurses and my friends while people were in real pain and passing. I was on strict bed rest so when I went to get my daily floroscan and CT they would have the transport team come up. 4 people, 2 on the bed and my IV machine, 1 nurse, and 1 guy would always follow me with a crash cart. When I would pass other patients rooms on the ICU I would see how bad of shape people are in, it’s crazy stuff. People were always surprised I was in good spirits all the time, especially in the ICU, but looking around the floor I had a lot to be happy about. Saturday was a big day and the first time it all got to me. My scan showed I needed more TPA time and so I was stuck for another 24 hours. ”That’s how it goes” I said to the nurse, she put her head down next to mine on the pillow because I guess she could tell I was crushed. For most part I was never scared or felt horrible. The ICU, when you are awake and coherent is a great place to be. The service and staff are the best. There are many stories I could share about the conversations with the staff, the crap the nurses would give me in fun and funny incidents that happened everyday but that would take forever……
I can’t tell you how grateful I am to the staff of the Poudre Valley Medical. All the nurses that took such good care of me in the ICU, the doctors, transport teams, radiologists…..it was a pleasure meeting all of you and I enjoyed all the conversations and shooting the shit. Sorry for all the CSU smack talk! Thank you to Alissa, Kathy, Taylor (Tay-Tay), Dr. Burchowitz, Dr. Hayes, Holly, Randy, Brady, Jenny and everyone else! Most of all thanks for renewing my faith in the health profession. There really are people out there that actually care about patient care.
Things are good, I just have to recover and make some serious life changes to keep this thing going. I am on a 6 month round of blood thinners so please try not to punch me in the nose for a while. This incident happened quick, gave me no time to think about how huge this was and what I was doing. I guess that’s the deal with all health problems or incidents for everyone, they come quick and you gotta react fast. But everything worked out and everything is going good.
Thanks again everyone for the well wishes, I really want to make sure to let everyone know I am not in that bad of shape anymore! Thanks so much!
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