Hemo the Magnificent*

[outsdr]

So, I met with the hematologist yesterday. He was a little hard to understand, but he told me I tested positive for Lupus-Like Inhibitor, explaining that the antibodies in my blood are attacking the blood vessel walls, making them rough and causing blood to stick to them and clot. There's no cure, and I'll be on blood thinners for life.

Good news though is that this should never happen again, he said. _Should_.

What I forgot to ask him was why it happened in the first place. I'm scheduled for another blood test in February that's going to be done to make sure this is what is really going on. I'll try to remember to ask him then what triggered this after never having any clotting problems before.

He said there's no test for this, unfortunately. It's not hereditary, but it is genetic (that seems contraindicative). He also referred me to a Coumadin clinic in December.

The hematologist said I had the worst case of blood clots he has ever seen.

I told him I wasn't sure if that should make me happy or not.

Annoyingly, these test results are dated October 2nd. So apparently they've known all along what was causing the clotting and just didn't bother to tell me. Granted, it's possible the information was buried so deeply in my chart that it was missed.

He also very soberly told me how very serious this had been and that people die from blood clots all the time, and that this really should have killed me as well. He is glad I'm doing as well as I am.

And to be honest, I almost feel like I'm back to my old self again, at least mentally (There's still some memory issues.) Once my chest finishes healing, I think I'll be fine (It still hurts, a lot at times, but not like it did before. Sneezing and coughing still terrifies me though, because it feels like I'm splitting in half every time.) Especially once I get some more cardiac rehab sessions done as well, and my strength and stamina return to normal.

He told me that I'm still restricted on the weight I can lift, because my sternum is still somewhat soft. I think I made the right decision to wait to return to work until January. I want to be as close to 100% recovered as possible when I go back, especially since I know that I'll end up pushing myself to show that I can still do the job just as well as, if not better than, I did before the surgery. And I definitely don't want to be coddled.

So that's that. Looks like I have some lifestyle changes to consider, but if the only thing I need to do to treat this is taking one pill a day, I can live with that. Well, I have to, I guess. But I know it could have been a lot worse.

*This is the title of an actual movie shown to us in school. It was from the fifties, but showed an impressive mix of live action and animation. As well as cigarette smoking doctors! And bible passages!

(And it turns out it's totally on YouTube.)