It’s been several hours and five days since Tim texted me with the news that his doctors found a very large blood clot in his leg – the same leg that was shattered earlier this summer and required major surgery.
We knew this was a post-surgery risk, and he took all the usual precautions: elevating his leg, walking around frequently, doing heel-toe stretches, etc. We’re so surprised he developed a clot at all because he has a tendency to bruise very easily; in fact, we thought he might have a clotting-deficiency disorder.
And now this.
Deep vein thrombosis is scary. If a part of the clot breaks off and travels to his lungs, it could be fatal. My sister-in-law Jill lost her best friend earlier this year to a pulmonary embolism. The statistics are in our favor (especially now that he’s being treated with blood thinners), but I am still terrified. Like, I can’t sleep. I can’t really write about it without my chest tightening and feeling like I’m going to choke.
I need my Tim. There is nothing like a crisis to make you appreciate the mundane. Tonight at dinner I felt like I just never wanted to stop eating potato and leek soup together.
Here are Tim’s legs – one is quite swollen due to the clot preventing optimal venous return:
Tim thinks the swelling has actually gone down, so hopefully he is on the mend. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers and calls and texts – they mean so much.
In the meantime, I’m trying to take things one moment at a time. Luckily, there are a lot of good moments, like spontaneous snuggle / tickle-fight parties.
