Wednesday, August 29, 2012

On Hold

It looks like I'm going to be putting going to school off for a few months. August has had some not so nice surprises in store for me this month. A few weeks ago a horse at work reared up and went over backwards while I was riding him. Luckily he didn't land on me. When I started trying to get to my feet, he started to step on my right hip. Quickly squirming to get out from under him, I got to my feet, only to have him reel around and kick me in my left thigh. Trying not to freak out the people I was leading on the trail ride, I climbed back into the saddle as we rode back to the barn. And that's when my vision started yellowing and I was feeling sick. So I went to the ER to get checked out and make sure my head was ok. They checked my head and my leg and everything was clear, so they sent me home. A few days later, after trying to work and failing, I decided to go back to the doctor because my leg was extremely swollen, and so was my abdomen, which I found more concerning. She sent me to get a CT scan of my abdomen and another ultrasound of my thigh. The ultrasound revealed a blood clot that went from my knee to my groin. I was promptly ushered straight to the ER. They were going to try to surgically remove the clot by soaking it in blood thinners, and aspirating it at the same time. They went to do an iodine contrast before starting so they could get a better picture, but when they started to inject the iodine, I woke up with a pain in my back. And then they discovered the internal bleeding from a tear in a vein in my abdomen. I spent the next week in the hospital. Receiving several blood transfusions, having numerous blood draws, and trying to heal. Now I'm on blood thinners for the next 3-6 months, and only able to do light work. I should be able to get back into the saddle in the next few weeks, and only doing light riding for a while. Despite all that's happened, and all the numerous doctors appointments I'll have to go to in order to get my blood levels right, I feel extremely lucky. It could have been so much worse. I have the potential to make a full recovery, although there might be a few hiccups along the way. I'm just extremely thankful it wasn't worse.