Lurgi, part 9

Two weeks after showing my Dreaded Lurgi to the doctor ... I'm feeling somewhat better now.

She gave me a week of antibiotics (on general principles) and an inhaler (for the bronchitis) and told me to lay off the Warfarin (which would help avoid future nosebleeds). The flood of nosebleed that I had on 1 May didn't recur - I think that was the low point, because it just wouldn't stop and I was awake all night. At the end of the week of antibiotics, I went to see her again. I blew into a tube (to measure lung function) and the result was pitiful, I scored around 500, which is *way* less than my usual score. So this time she gave me a week of steroids, aimed at clearing up the rest of the bronchitis.

After completing the week of steroids, I went back for another consultation. My lung function was *way* up to about 680, and I was no longer wheezing. But I told her that I have a great tenderness in my right calf. Apart from that, all is good.

And I don't think the Liqufruta helped me at all, I won't be getting that in future.

She squeezed the calf a bit, and fussed a bit, and worried a bit, because I have Leiden Factors 5 and 2, which means that I'm *very* good at clotting, which is good news if you get gored by a squirrel at the age of 21, but at my age and sedentary life, means I'm more likely to get a DVT or worse, which is why I'm on Warfarin. So is that a DVT? She didn't know, so she packed me off to Wycombe General for tests.

I drove there, and they took a fingerful of blood out of my arm and tested it. This told them that my INR (blood thinnness) is about 1, which is normal, and ideally I should be about 3, which is thin. While they analysed the test, I went home, then returned and they gave me a jab in the belly of something (Heperin, I think) that should thin out my blood really fast. And I'm back on Warfarin now.

They also wanted to give me an ultrasound scan to check for clots in my leg, but they couldn't give me an appointment that day, so I had to go back there. And that brings us up to today.

So I went to Wycombe General, found the ultrasound area (it's near to X-ray) and a nice nurse smeared jelly on my leg then inspected it with the ultrasound probe. After a careful check, she told me that I was ALL CLEAR, which is what I expected, but is nevertheless cheering. Also, I'm not pregnant. Then I had to wait to see a doctor.

So I sat in the Small Injuries unit for about two hours (I had a couple of books, and I can't really complain because everyone else who was there was more important than me, at that point, since we already knew I was ALL CLEAR. Eventually they called my name, and I went to see the doctor, who introduced me to a colleague of his who was also present and joked that I was getting two doctors! "Three, actually," I explained. So he told me what the nurse had already told me, that I don't have a DVT, so I got back into the car and went home.

I'm very impressed with the Small Injuries Unit at Wycombe, because A) they're open 24 hours, 365 days, whereas the one at Mount Vernon is 9am to 8pm. Also, they have a very good parking system, although you do have to pay, typically £2.50.

I'm generally a fan of Small Injuries Units. I don't use them often, but in the last few years, I've used them for a splinter under a fingernail that I just couldn't deal with, for a dog bite, and for a scalp wound that looked a lot worse than it was. In all cases, I've been seen very quickly, and mended nicely.

So what's wrong with my calf? I might have pulled a muscle. Anyway, I'm hobbling a bit, but I expect it to fix itself, because things usually do.