I'm An Internet and Email Junkie

September 16, 2009 — Well here I sit doing what I had been thinking I should not do as I lay in a hospital bed here in Austin. This past Friday night I was rudely awakened by a sever burning and pain in my lower right leg. I took a look at things (I didn't really need to) and knew that I had again developed what is known as a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT), more commonly known as a blood clot, in the calf of my right leg. I immediately woke Wanda and had her take me to the ER where through the wee hours of Saturday morning they confirmed my own earlier diagnosis founded on nothing other than past history and the sever pain I was experiencing. You see this is the third of these little boogers I have had in this leg and in this location.

It got worse from there. After 6 A.M. or so on Saturday I have no recollection of what happened to me until I awoke in a bed on the hospitals PCU ward. That was about 6 or 7 P.M. Seems I had developed breathing and BP problems (low) as the earlier morning progressed and they felt I needed constant monitoring that the PCU folks could provide. I understand that the PCU is one level of care below ICU. When I woke up I could not believe some of the things they were saying as they talked about my having pneumonia, gout, and probably several other things I don't recall. Oh yes one of those was that they thought I might have some sort of bacterial blood infection. Test on all of this stuff proved to be negative. I thought I was feeling fine as I had participated in my VFW Post Patriot Day ceremony and helped conduct the Friday night Bingo session. Ah, not so fast Mr. Burkett, seems you have let yourself get rundown. And sure enough that is what helped to bring on the DVT.

You cannot imagine the sever pain one of these things can cause. All through Sunday no one could even touch my right calf without bringing me up off the bed and saying some unkind things about the touchers ancestry (not really), but it was literally that bad. Of the three of these that I have had this has been the most severe. The leg is swollen and still very sore and will be for sometime. I had to stay in the hospital until yesterday afternoon when the Dr was convinced that they had me adjusted to the right dosage of blood thinner that I will be on for the rest of my life. That is not a very exciting prospect but a very necessary one. And it is something that will have to be continually monitored by checking the clot times of my blood.

I did a lot of thinking as I lay there in that hospital bed wanting to be home so I could gab in this blog or on FB or sending and reading emails. I am a certified card carrying Internet/Email junkie. I love this stuff and I don't know why. I also missed being with Wanda, and she has put up with all my crankiness over this and still loves me, and of course I missed my MollyB and Boots. I am a lucky man to have all three of them love me the way they do.

As I lay there I also realized that this is very serious business with all the other health issues I have had going on over the last six months or so. It is clear as day that the main cause of my sometimes poor health and the continuing problems I seem to be having stems from my smoking for almost 50 years. It is simply a "no brainer." I also realized as I lay there yesterday that I had not had a cigarette since late Friday night. Hey you...wake up...now is your chance to make a real difference and turn some of this stuff around. So if anyone is reading this blog I would ask one thing of you...give me your support overtly or covertly in my bid to stop smoking. I need your help and believe me...it's what really matters!