Do I want to air out some of my laundry that’s been going on? Admittedly it’s been a wild ride these past few months. It’s taking me a while to truly digest what’s happened.
Given the nearly three years of the ongoing pandemic that many people have just seen to have forgotten about…and we’re here still wondering when this safe to go on an airplane with our boys. ANYWAY that has nothing to do with my story. I posted this also on my instagram, but decided to also post it here because – IG is not “mine” and that platform could disappear at any given moment, and my blog – well, my blog is here to stay. Clearly.
Cut to the chase: I’ve been having shortness of breath for half my life. I get it looked at when I lived in Waterloo, Ontario after playing soccer. Got an asthma inhaler to use while I was playing soccer. I used it, yes, but it didn’t really make a difference. I stopped using it.
The shortness of breath gets worse during my second pregnancy, I didn’t really notice. Months after 2nd boy was born my Mom keeps bringing it up that I should get it checked out. I do.
I head to my family doctor and he sorta brushed it off until I joked and said…”what if it’s a blood clot in my lungs or something.” He didn’t find my joke as funny as I did. He didn’t want to go “digging for something” so he suggested along with my regular blood work he’ll get my d dimer tested. The D-dimer tests for blood clotting problems. My test came back, Doc man wanted to speak with me in person. Short story, my D-Dimer was double in what it should be. He didn’t seem too concerned, so I didn’t seem too bothered by it either because sweet Jesus if you Google anything you’re dying, am I right? Bloodwork lady was surprised to see “someone as young as me” getting my D-Dimer tested. Interesting note in my head there.
My family doctor wanted t
o rule out anything scary (like a pulmonary embolism) so I was sent for a CT angiogram, the day before my birthday in May. Came back fine. Great. All I wanted to hear. But doc says he’ll refer me to a cardiologist just in case. This cardiologist doc then has me getting all-the-things: an echocardiogram on my heart. Then a stress test where I’m hooked up to some wires, and I run on a treadmill (with my restrictive N95 mask on. Horrible feeling when running with that on), and multiple EKGs anytime I see him for an office visit. This went on for a month or two. All fine. Great.
Get my blood test done again for the d dimer. This time it’s 6 (!!!!) times higher than the regular amount your d dimer should measure. WTF is going on with my blood. Meaning I’m “high risk” for a blood clot/stroke. For some reason I’m still calm about this. He says if he can’t figure it out after some more testing he’ll refer me then to a hemoglobin specialist to figure out what’s going on with my blood that way.
I mean the doctors are doctors for a reason and THEY seem to be calm about it too. Am I being naive here? Maybe. But…I’m a pretty positive person and I’m sure I’m in the hands of down great care. Cardiologist assures me and says I’ll be fine. We always chatted about Canada, and the things we had in common. I trust him lol. Wow, I’m a great story teller. Hey, I write like I talk, what can I say.
Cut to the chase, I had a chat with my cardiologist because I didn’t want to start taking unnecessary drugs, and I was still nursing my baby. My last baby. We both agreed for my safety, I would have to take a super low dose of blood thinners, stop my birth control pills, and stop nursing my baby immediately (this was in June). I wasn’t ready to stop nursing, and was hoping to continue that journey until my little guy turned 2. But, health is a priority, am I right? I only started taking birth control pills 6 months prior because of my menstrual CLOTS. Birth control helped to stop the clots – which then turned around causing bigger clots in my blood. Doesn’t make sense to me, honestly lol. Weird.
Boom bingo bamboo….got the answer. Took the blood thinners. Stopped the pill. Do another d dimer blood test. Back to somewhat normal. All within 5wks of taking blood thinners. Wtf dude. Was it the pill the entire time? The combo? Who knows. Anyway, have another appointment in October to test to see if my D Dimer is still grand and normal reading. What a wild ride. The readability of this post is so poor, I know that. Sorry. But….there ya have it, that’s the end of my minor health scare. Bye!