24-08-2024, 12:08 PM
I've been a little quiet of late here.
This is due to a few reasons, firstly my very supportive wife doesn't really want my life on show for all and sundry and I need to respect that, so further postings will likely be infrequent although if anything big happens I'll post about it
Secondly, the rather boring reality of transitioning is that... nothing really happens very quickly at all, so I wouldn't really have a whole lot of stuff to say.
All that said, here are a few events that have been big enough to warrant an entry
The GP's referral (that I had doubts had actually been done) I received a letter from the Notts GIC confirming my referral since May 24, I fully expect a good 2 year wait before I get seen, but I'm on the list now, and it won't stop me from doing what I am in the meantime
The other event isn't so pleasant I'm afraid.
13 days ago in preparation of getting a new stair carpet laid, my wife and I removed the old carpet and underlay. This wasn't especially difficult and didn't take long, the problem began when we realised that the fitters had stapled the underlay into the stair wood using heavy duty staples, which had to be removed.
I had this job so I began to remove each and every staple which took me about 2 hours, during which my right leg was fully extended on the stair below I was working on in a kind of lunge position. Over time this was unconformable progressing to painful and ending up really sore but I persevered as the fitters were coming the next day and I didn't want any of us or the kids or dogs getting cut on a staple on the stairs.
The next day as expected my leg was sore, it felt like a typical muscle pain when you've done too much so I thought nothing of it, took some paracetamol and continued with my day, over the next 3 days when I expected it to fade away and return to normal, this wasn't happening, if anything it was becoming more painful. No matter if I stood, sat, or lay, or changed position nothing brought relief. I managed to snag a GP appointment on Wednesday and they prescribed me stronger pain killers and checked to see if my leg was swollen (it wasn't). Thursday evening my wife wondered if it might be a blood clot, which I hadn't even considered, but the pain was really bad and the pain killers were barely touching the sides (night time and sleeping were just not happening) so she called 111 and asked for advice, in the end an ambulance was called and I was sent off to one of the nearby hospitals about 1 AM stuffed full of morphine and paracetamol, after a really shitty night of being pretty much ignored by anyone (the ambulance crew were nice) I had a chest X-Ray late morning, because I had chest pains and was frightened it was blood clots, and finally an ultrasound scan on my right leg.
The technician only needed to get as far as my knee before the blood clot showed up, this was a blow as I was still holding out hope that it was muscular, a little later I saw the consultant who prescribed me 3 months of blood thinners and painkillers and sent me on my way. I returned home Friday late afternoon.
We're now 8 days in and the pain is slowly going away, leg still aches though and I have to make sure to keep this weird balance of walking/sitting/lying down to make sure nothing horrible happens.
As to the cause?
No idea, Estrogen can make your blood a little thicker, although I'm on Gel not pills.
No one seemed that bothered about it to find out the cause and the whole attitude seemed to be one of nonchalance like it was no big deal.
I had noticed my ankles had swollen slightly a few days earlier, and although I am reasonably active I have a tendency to spend reasonably long periods sat on my computer without moving my legs much, perhaps it was the prolonged and uncomfortable position I had my leg in when removing the staples.
I'm a little worried moving forward because I'm only on the thinners for 3 months and they will offset anything the Estrogen is doing, but they end after 3 months...
I'm making much more effort to try and vary my activities to ensure I'm not doing anything in one position for too long (wife is very good at reminding me to do this)
I just hope now I'm an almost 59 yrs old I'm not going to enter a new horrible chapter of health issues, where I really had none before.
It's all a little worrying really.
Lisa
This is due to a few reasons, firstly my very supportive wife doesn't really want my life on show for all and sundry and I need to respect that, so further postings will likely be infrequent although if anything big happens I'll post about it
Secondly, the rather boring reality of transitioning is that... nothing really happens very quickly at all, so I wouldn't really have a whole lot of stuff to say.
All that said, here are a few events that have been big enough to warrant an entry
The GP's referral (that I had doubts had actually been done) I received a letter from the Notts GIC confirming my referral since May 24, I fully expect a good 2 year wait before I get seen, but I'm on the list now, and it won't stop me from doing what I am in the meantime
The other event isn't so pleasant I'm afraid.
13 days ago in preparation of getting a new stair carpet laid, my wife and I removed the old carpet and underlay. This wasn't especially difficult and didn't take long, the problem began when we realised that the fitters had stapled the underlay into the stair wood using heavy duty staples, which had to be removed.
I had this job so I began to remove each and every staple which took me about 2 hours, during which my right leg was fully extended on the stair below I was working on in a kind of lunge position. Over time this was unconformable progressing to painful and ending up really sore but I persevered as the fitters were coming the next day and I didn't want any of us or the kids or dogs getting cut on a staple on the stairs.
The next day as expected my leg was sore, it felt like a typical muscle pain when you've done too much so I thought nothing of it, took some paracetamol and continued with my day, over the next 3 days when I expected it to fade away and return to normal, this wasn't happening, if anything it was becoming more painful. No matter if I stood, sat, or lay, or changed position nothing brought relief. I managed to snag a GP appointment on Wednesday and they prescribed me stronger pain killers and checked to see if my leg was swollen (it wasn't). Thursday evening my wife wondered if it might be a blood clot, which I hadn't even considered, but the pain was really bad and the pain killers were barely touching the sides (night time and sleeping were just not happening) so she called 111 and asked for advice, in the end an ambulance was called and I was sent off to one of the nearby hospitals about 1 AM stuffed full of morphine and paracetamol, after a really shitty night of being pretty much ignored by anyone (the ambulance crew were nice) I had a chest X-Ray late morning, because I had chest pains and was frightened it was blood clots, and finally an ultrasound scan on my right leg.
The technician only needed to get as far as my knee before the blood clot showed up, this was a blow as I was still holding out hope that it was muscular, a little later I saw the consultant who prescribed me 3 months of blood thinners and painkillers and sent me on my way. I returned home Friday late afternoon.
We're now 8 days in and the pain is slowly going away, leg still aches though and I have to make sure to keep this weird balance of walking/sitting/lying down to make sure nothing horrible happens.
As to the cause?
No idea, Estrogen can make your blood a little thicker, although I'm on Gel not pills.
No one seemed that bothered about it to find out the cause and the whole attitude seemed to be one of nonchalance like it was no big deal.
I had noticed my ankles had swollen slightly a few days earlier, and although I am reasonably active I have a tendency to spend reasonably long periods sat on my computer without moving my legs much, perhaps it was the prolonged and uncomfortable position I had my leg in when removing the staples.
I'm a little worried moving forward because I'm only on the thinners for 3 months and they will offset anything the Estrogen is doing, but they end after 3 months...
I'm making much more effort to try and vary my activities to ensure I'm not doing anything in one position for too long (wife is very good at reminding me to do this)
I just hope now I'm an almost 59 yrs old I'm not going to enter a new horrible chapter of health issues, where I really had none before.
It's all a little worrying really.
Lisa