Living in fear is no good to anyone.

Back in October, I decided to keep a log of the cramps I have in my calves to know how often they occur. The first one I logged was on October 29th. This morning was the first cramp since then, also in my left calf. At about 0500 I screamed a short scream and then began very controlled breathing to distract from the pain and slow my heart rate (it roughly triples when I have cramp) while trying to move my leg as little as possible. When I walked to work this morning (~0740), it was sore, but the walking made it feel a bit better. It is still sore and probably will be for the next couple of days.

When I had the cramp last time and thought it might be related to the DVT I went to the doctor. Dr. Markwell said that calf cramps are the most common cramps and they can happen for many reasons, but the most likely reason for one to happen at random is due to dehydration. The one in October was the morning after a night of heavy drinking, so dehydration makes sense. The time, I don't know that I could have been dehydrated. I had a lot of water yesterday while at work and also had 2 big cups while at home last night. Maybe my sense of thirst is messed up and I'm not feeling as thirsty as I should.

Last night I prepared the filling for "Chicken In Foil," an American-Chinese appetizer you can get at most sit-down Chinese restaurants I've been to. Assuming there is a movie night at Casa Imbri tomorrow, I plan on bringing it and making it in addition to whatever other foods are going to be made.

Also, we are going to have a housewarming party at our new house on Friday, January 13th (the Friday before NMT classes start). You are all invited.

Ongoing story of some broken customer service:
http://www.granneman.com/personal/journals/hpsterribleservice.htm

I saw the doctor. He thinks that my leg hurting isn't related to the clot from before or a new clot. To be sure, he is scheduling me for a doppler ultrasound later this week sometime. For now he said I should keep it warm and try not to use it too much. Being that I sit at work all day, it shouldn't be too much of a problem to stay off of it. I'm gonna try to borrow voices_speak's heating pad again also. I should buy a heating pad of my own at some point.

I'm freaking out less, but I'm still worried.

On Saturday (2005-10-29) morning I had a cramp in my left calf. I don't know exactly how often they occur (up to a few per year, so not very often) or why they do, but they are always quite painful and my leg is sore for a few hours to a couple of days after. My leg was sore into the mid-afternoon, but then was feeling ok. Sunday (2005-10-30) it was a little sore again. I was hoping it was just the cramp and not anything worse. Today it is a little more sore than yesterday and now it's slightly swollen and hurts when I press in certain places. The time-line and symptoms are a perfect match for the DVT (blood clot) I had months ago. I don't understand how it could have happened though. Since mid-August my blood has been 2-3 times thinner than average because I've been taking the Coumadin correctly and getting blood tests done every other week to make sure my blood is appropriately thin. I'm gonna try and get an appointment for tomorrow or today to see my doctor. If not, I'm gonna be a walk-in tomorrow and wait all day as needed.