First of all, this is going to be a long post... sorry!
Hey! I’m 21 years old and a week ago I was discharged from hospital after a months stay after a fatal fall from a horse. I ended up with broken ribs, collapsed lung, severe damage to my liver and damage to my kidney, pancreas and spleen. I had a pretty bad time in hospital, chest drain, drain for my bile leak and a biliary stent put in. After 2 weeks I had just started walking again but then suffered from an infarct by my damaged kidney, which ended up partly dying off. Anyway 2 weeks later I was finally discharged with a big bag full of pain killers, anti sickness and laxatives.
I was still fragile, but I could walk for several minutes at a time before I got to short of breath and the pain would kick in by my ribs, but of course I was over the moon to finally go home.
The second night of being home however I woke up needing the toilet and as I got up I felt a sharp pain in my upper left thigh. It was that bad that I could barely walk on it. I stumbled to the toilet and went back to bed thinking I must have laid weirdly. Several hours later when I tried getting out of bed again the pain had worsened and I couldn’t put any weight on it. Because I was only just discharged I was scared it was something serious so I made an appointment with my local doctor, who listened very well and thought it was a clot and sent me straight to hospital. Once I was there I got an ultra sound and it was was confirmed I had a DVT on the left side of my groin. I was sent home with enoxaparin injections and stockings and another appointment was made in a better hospital (yesterday) for further assessment.
Unfortunately I was told there was not a lot they could do for me as the meds that break the cloths down are way too dangerous for me to take as I will have cloths all over my damaged organs just sitting there doing their job. They have prescribed me a further 6 weeks of injections and then to go onto the tablet form for another 6 months. And to wear the stockings for at least a few years.
Now because I can’t actually get the treatment people would normally get and it’s all up to my body I’m scared to be in pain for a long time. I mean, after my month in hospital I know what real pain feels like.. and the pain I have in my leg when I try to walk on it is very severe. I have to cling on to my boyfriend to keep as much weight of it as possible and I still end up in tears moving from room to room.
Tomorrow it will be exactly a week since the pain has started. I understand it will need time, but the pain makes me anxious and I fear to walk anywhere. It’s really playing with my mental health as I am normally a very independent and active person and I’ve been pretty much bed bound for 5 weeks now.
At this point I’m desperate for things to get back to normal again and I was hoping there would be people with similar experiences that can help me out a bit.
Thanks for reading the long post!
Jane