A surprise but a reminder

Some of you know and some of you don't know. But yesterday I had my first experience with the Mexican healthcare system because I was having most of the symptoms of a blood clot. For the past couple weeks at night when I am laying in bed, my left ankle has been very uncomfortable and just bothersome. There was no pain, but I just couldn't get it comfortable. Tuesday night I was talking to Neal on Skype and was sitting in my hammock facing the mirror that is in my room down here in Merida and I looked at my ankles and it looked as if I was getting a cankle by my left ankle. I thought that was odd because I seriously don't have extra weight in order for me to develop a cankle. So I compared my two ankles and realized that my left ankle was swollen and even on the top of my foot as well. Then after sitting for a while, my toes got purple and white so I tried to elevate my foot and my ankle and foot did not like that at all. It was giving me a tingling sensation so I knew something was up. Neal asked if I had been dealing with leg cramps because he was already on WebMD checking things out since he likes doing research on those types of things and I absolutely hate it. So needless to say he went through the list of symptoms and the only things that I didn't have was my foot feeling really warm and red discoloration. I was getting a cramp in my calf after walking down to the kitchen like Neal told me to do just to get my blood flowing, but when I did that, my foot was so swollen that it was making me limp. Next step was to call mom since she was flying in at 11PM Tuesday night so I knew she would be up. She told me not to go to my internship Wednesday morning and that I needed to go see a doctor right away Wednesday morning because I was having a lot of the same symptoms as she did when she had a blood clot in her leg in '97.

In the morning, I got up and my ankle felt fine until I was standing on it washing my face at the sink and it started to go numb again. I texted Val the director and told her I needed to see a doctor that morning so she took me to a private hospital called StarMedica and we went to the Emergency Room. I told Val my story so she could tell the doctors what was going on. We saw a doctor right away who checked my blood pressure and temperature and I had a bit of a temperature. Since the emergency room knew that the symptoms I was having were hereditary, they got me in right away. The young doctor who did the consultation in the emergency room told us to go to 2 different doctors. A neurologist and a blood doctor since I wasn't having feeling in my feet. They wanted to make sure that I didn't have any nerve damage. We went to one neurologist who couldn't get me in until 7:30PM that night so that doctor's office got us into another neurologist but we waited another hour. We had to tell our story again, so Val was getting good at it. He did an old-fashioned check with checking my reflexes and doing different tests such as the vibration thing and poking the tops of my feet to see the difference all with my eyes closed. My reflexes were much stronger in my left foot than my right but I couldn't feel the poking on my left foot that I could on my right foot. The doctor told me that there was a difference in temp and that my left foot was much colder than my right. So after all these tests and questions being answered, he concluded that I didn't have nerve damage. I was having a circulation problem so he told us that he was not the right person to diagnose anything. That was super nice because in the states, the doctor would probably order a lot of tests like an MRI or something and he didn't do this. He referred me to a vein and artery doctor who was one of his friends. So he proceeds to get on his PERSONAL cell phone to get me in right away because he was worried about it since my Factor Five mutation affects my blood and he didn't want a blood clot occurring and us not finding out right away.

So we went to the artery and vein doctor who got us in the second we walked through the door. She didn't do any tests since the neurologist told her the results he had concluded from his tests. So she did an ultrasound on my feet and on my left groin to check the pulse of the artery and the blood flow of my vein. Val was with me through everything which was a HUGE blessing but we both got a Biology Lesson 101. We found out that the artery has a pulse and pumps the blood down your leg from your heart and the vein re-circulates the blood back up through my leg. The heart beat was strong and clear for my artery on my foot and my groin so she knew nothing was wrong in my artery. She then listened to the sound of my vein and it was very clear and loud so she said I was under no risk of developing a blood clot. If the flow or pulse wouldn't have been strong and clear in my groin that would have been an indication that something was wrong. Then she asked if I have been sweating a lot since I have been down here. Val piped up right away and said, "Steph sweats more than anyone else on the program and was drenched in sweat last Friday when we went to Uxmal and everyone else that came back from the ruins was hardly sweating" and I also told the doctor that I have been sweating tons. So she concluded that I have a circulation problem in my veins because when it is warm out, your veins dialate which makes it harder to re-circulate the blood up through your leg while fighting the pulse that the artery has. When the vein is dialated, the blood flow is much slower and it is working harder to maintain my body temperature. So this is why my foot was swollen--the blood wasn't recirculating fast enough. And that is why I have been sweating sooo much! My veins are dialated and slowing down the blood flow. She finally concluded that since it has been almost 7 weeks since I have been here, my body does not regulate to the heat like everyone else's does. So all I can do is take a baby aspirin to allow my blood to thin out a little as well as keep moving around and icing my foot and ankle at night to keep the swelling down and allow for my vein to shrink a little to pick up the blood flow. The doctor tried to talk me into the compression tights and I told her I wasn't having it. I am only 20 and I don't want to wear those until I absolutely have to!

The doctors and Val were great through everything. I wasn't nervous about anything because both doctors took their time and asked a lot of questions so it wasn't like they were rushing through my appointment with them. They were very gracious and were very slow at explaining everything because they wanted me to understand what was going on and not only Val understanding it. They also knew I am away from family and friends so they made me feel very comfortable. Thank goodness I don't have a blood clot! Val told me when we got to the hospital that if I was diagnosed with a clot, she would pitch camp in my hospital room and stay with me so that was super comforting that I was never going to be left alone. Praise God! These symptoms were a surprise but all this was a reminder of God's graciousness and sovereignty!

I am off to Tulum again! We are leaving in 30min. so I have to run! Hopefully it doesn't snow at home this week! I'll be thinking of everyone as I'm sweating like crazy in the Caribbean wishing I was in cooler weather! =)