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Last Updated: Mon, 18 Aug 2008 00:55:00 GMT

Saturday, 26 January 2008

Birth control pill lesson for me

Some time around the year 2000 I got a call from my dad. He was in the hospital in Syracuse, I was at work in Boston, and he said he had a pulmonary embolism. I did not understand the severity at the time, that he was lucky to be alive and I remember asking him if he wanted me to come home. Why was I giving him a choice? Because I was dumb. Luckily he said he wanted me to and he told me he was scared. That's when I became scared too and got home ASAP. So he ended up being okay eventually after a few stays in the hospital and now he's on blood-thinners daily. They found the cause to be he was homozygous Factor V Leiden (FVL). Because FVL increases your risk of clotting, I was tested because having FVL is a contraindication for the birth control pill because birth control pills also increase your clotting risk so the combo of the two is bad. I was tested and turned out to be heterozygous FVL, not as bad as Dad who has 2 defective copies of the gene, I only have one but since my Dad now has a history of clotting and I have a defective gene the doctor said I couldn't take the pill anymore. I don't think I was on it at the time but I had been in the past. So ever since then I've dealt w/ it and it kinda sucks but whatever. Yesterday I thought I'd go to the doctor and see if I could get it. Really I had no idea of what the risk was. I felt I was willing to risk the clotting not to get pregnant. I'm kinda healthy, I don't smoke and I run most days so I figured that would lower my risk. Plus I'm not that concerned w/ living so if it killed me oh well. The nurse practitioner was just not having it. There was no way she would give me a prescription for the pill w/ my medical history. She said if she gave it to me and I died she would be in trouble. She showed me her formulary and it specifically said no pill if the patient has a FVL mutation. Fine! I tried though. So anyway I just was looking up trying to find the risk and what I found is a woman heterozygous FVL on the pill is at a 20-30 fold increased relative risk or an absolute risk of 1 in 500 will develop a clot versus a woman on the pill w/out FVL is 1 out of 3500. So the nurse told me to try the Today Sponge which I thought was off the market, I remember using that when I was like 17 before I got the pill, and of course you can't forget the Seinfeld episode where Elaine bought up all the sponges because they were discontinued and then wouldn't sleep w/ anyone unless they were sponge-worthy. Turns out it is back on the market, new hipper packaging coming soon, haha! Got some yesterday but since they are on the market I hope I don't get all conserving w/ them and have to find sponge-worthy people.

Posted: Jan 26, 2008 12:28

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Friday, 11 May 2007

Well, turns out nothing is wrong w/ me.

Just the nurse and doctor at urgent care are retarded. It was nothing serious and I don't really need to do anything so I don't know what the big deal w/ not telling me was.

Only health problems are the usual, eat bad and not enough exercise. Ever since my last marathon in October I've been getting more and more out of shape so I joined a running club in addition to the triathlon team I'm already on. I've been doing the running club track workouts for a month now and they're definitely worthwhile. I'm one of the slowest people at the moment which sucks because I wasn't always so slow. I've been running for almost 20 years and while I do have periods of improvement, I also have periods of down in the dumps slowness because I just couldn't keep up my awesome fitness. So now I'm down in the dumps running on the track w/ some other slow people that haven't been running for 20 years and never even ran on a track so don't know what a 400 is and it's probably hard for anyone to believe I know what I'm doing because I'm so slow and running w/ the people that don't know what a 400 is. Anyway, I will keep going and slowly increase the rest of my weekly mileage and we'll see what happens. There's this other girl that's kinda slow and runs w/ me and she has a much better attitude than I do, she's never run track before and doesn't know the lingo, but she's willing to work hard and push me too. So she's turning out to be my running buddy. Last night we had to do mile repeats which were so hard in the heat, plus I'm not ready for mile repeats, I just started back to the track a month ago after a few year hiatus, but that's what the coach said so I tried. Actually my second mile turned into 2 800s but whatever, I still covered the distance. Next weekend is my triathlon team training weekend so I'll finally get on my bike this season for the first time riding nice and slow at the back of the pack. Also swimming for the first time in months adding all that to running too, I'll be exhausted the following week! Eventually I'll be back in shape, I just don't want to push too hard because of my neck injuries. If they act up again I have to see the orthopedic surgeon and I'm trying to avoid that!

Posted: May 11, 2007 12:37

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Wednesday, 02 May 2007

It's my own fault I'm now left to wonder what the hell is wrong with me

I had an appt. this afternoon to get my suture out and get biopsy results. I really wasn't too worried about it, thinking that the results would be normal. Unfortunately for me, I got caught up in work at the very wrong time because I was thinking about this appt. all day and then all of a sudden, I went Oh Shit! and I had missed my appt. by 30 min. I called them and they said they could get me in on Friday but who wants a suture in their girl parts longer than necessary so they said I could go to Urgent Care to get it out and that maybe they would give me the results. So I went right away to Urgent Care and waited 2 hrs. to get my stinking suture out and to be told that they couldn't tell me the results because according to the nurse practitioner they were all Greek, meaning she had no clue what the hell it meant, which is not good, and even when I said I was a veterinarian and I was capable of understanding this Greek, she checked w/ the doctor in Urgent Care who also decided not to tell me my diagnosis. So now I know there is something wrong, and it involves treatment because the nurse mentioned for instance if she told me and then I didn't follow up w/ the treatment...Hopefully I will find out tomorrow when I call the dermatology nurse. Funny that I wasn't at all worried about it and now it has turned into something.

Posted: May 02, 2007 19:22

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Wednesday, 25 April 2007

I just got my first suture!

Yes I've lived 32 years without ever needing a stitch and today I got my first, one stitch of 5-0 silk, nice and tiny. The circumstances surrounding it are a bit personal but I had a biopsy done of my girl parts. I'm not really sure exactly where it was done as I haven't had a chance to look yet. The doc numbed the area first, the injection was the only 'kinda painful for a couple seconds' part and then she took a biopsy which i didn't feel at all, while she told me about her dogs & cats because the technician told her I was a vet and told her to tell me about her animals because the tech had already told me about hers. She told me I probably shouldn't run for a few days, but I'll try anyway and see if it hurts, and she also said it would hurt when I pee and to pour warm water over the area when I pee. I need to get the suture out next week and hopefully get my histopath results.

Posted: Apr 25, 2007 17:38

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Quotes

Even in medicine, though it is easy to know what honey, wine and hellebore, cautery and surgery are, to know how and to whom and when to apply them so as to effect a cure is no less an undertaking than to be a [veterinarian].
–Aristotle, 384-322 BC
Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world,I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.
–Mariah Carey, CPB (crazy psycho bitch)
Keep your wits about you.
–Dr. Wally Cash, DVM
Work twice as hard and expect half as much.
–Dr. Dan's Dad, both DVMs
Don't be screwin' around, you don't have the genetic potential.
–What Dr. Dan's Dad said to Dr. Dan when he went to college.
I'd rather have a terrorist standing next to me than a Frenchman. (~15 min. later) Oh, I forgot about that, that's another reason I don't like the French, they eat horses.
–Dr. Dee Griffin, DVM
You're my Georgia Lass.
–Mark Hughes, MovieMaker
In the book of life there's only two women, big ol' good ones and good ol' big ones.
–Ice Cube, HipHopper
Be a virus and travel the World! Free of ticket!
–Dr. Sanjay Kapil, DVM
Now you can either stand around here eatin' jambalaya or you can come upstairs and eat my ass!
–Brian Kinney, QAF Hottie!
I'm a McGriddle away from this being the best morning of my life.
–Artie Lang, OCCG (overweight comedian, compulsive gambler)
You're the best vagina friend.
–Joslynn Lee, AKA busy girl
No amount of genius can overcome a preoccupation with detail.
–Marion Levy Jr, PhD
I have tail.
–Cleo "Beaky-woo" Martin, America's Dog
It's better to burp and bear the shame than not to burp and bear the pain.
–Grandpa Martin, RIP
I hear tongue.
Please don't eat my ass.
I like dirty.
Well, I want to try everything in life.
When I gotta poop, I gotta poop.
–Heather Rose Martin, CFG (crazy freak girl)
Always when people go poo poo, they get candy.
–Diego Novillo, Kool Kid
I have the same problem with my pants that I have with my women - I wear 'em both out in the crotch.
If the present sucks, then look to the future.
I'm just here to be a person.
–Rob Reed, Brainiac
If you eat your dog, make sure it is well cooked.
–Peter Schantz, DVM Division of Parasitic Diseases CDC
That's where the poop starts, in the mouth.
I like your bike and I want to ride it.
–RJ Tholl, Dirty Boy
Think about it. Sometimes people are just destined, destined to do, what they do. And that's what it is. Now everybody dance.
–Justin Timberlake, Hottie!