Am I nuts?

So.....back in June I had the mesenteric vein thrombosis. I've been slowly getting back into the swing of things. Now I have a decision to make that I must make very soon. I have the opportunity to go on a rafting trip in the Grand Canyon - this is a long-awaited trip being put together by my neighbor and friends. He put in for a permit some 15 years ago! Anyway, I could go part way on the trip and hike out with two other people who are leaving at that point. I'm just trying to decide how crazy it would be to hike out, or even to raft, given my current physical status. I was in good shape before the summer, but have done little except horseback riding and a couple of short (5 mile or less) low grade hikes since then. I'm now two weeks between INR checks, so I could just fit in this proposed trip. The latest CT scan showed the clot is diminishing, but still exists. I'm starting to feel quite a bit better. I know the risks of hurting myself or bonking my head do exist, but somehow I have a hard time getting scared by that. It's that gawdawful hike out that has me hesitating. I've done it once on a different trail, and it's not a picnic even for the fit person. I guess I should try to phone my doctor and visit with her about it.

Anybody out there want to talk me into, or out of, this adventure?
Martha

Hiya Martha,

I think you were nuts before you had the clot like many of us...
Wow that sounds like a "I want to be there" type trip...
I'm sure you have looked at the two side of this, like we all do with life in general...
You know that I have totally given up riding a bike(MTB) since I have been on anticoagulants, just to put things in perspective, I look at your reasoning and I agree with you, the danger of bonking your head are grave and since you are in the middle of nowhere, it would take you for ever to get to a hospital to get an MRI.
I know, many people are telling me that I should NOT give up my MTB because of my condition and many are saying that I have done the right thing. It's a decision that all of us have to take and it's not always easy to do so.
Let me play the Devil's advocate...

Walking in the bushes and you are walking threw this rock garden, lots of loose rocks, you slip on one and you take a fall, not a big fall you may say, but you fell on this stubby branch and it cut your throat just beside the jugular vein... Not deep enough to
damage the jugular vein but deep enoughto make it bleed.
I can describe this incident very well because it happened to me exactly that way, except I was ridding Xcountry MTB and this happened to me a year before I was diagnosed with DVT. I was not going fast because of the loose rocks and let me tell you it was bleeding A LOT and this was w/o anticoagulants, so I can simply imagine what kind of mess I would had been if this had happened to me when I was ON ANTICOAGULANTS.The other factor was that I was about 20 miles in the sticks(away from the trail head) no access roads just a singletrack...
This is only one scenario that you know I would put together, I could make then up very easilly, I'm sure that you could to.

I'm not trying to scare you, just trying to show you some of the dangers involve in such an venture...
I look at it and I ask myself, what would I do, what would I decide?...
Like I said, this is a decision that you and YOU along can make.

Please don't hate me for showing you this side of our new life.

Now some folks may understand why I did a clean break from the riding community, to get away from the temptations.

Hi Martha!

Well... definitely can't say I'd talk you into it... 'cause I'm leaning with Denis on this one. But you have to do what feels best for you. Personally, I won't be doing anything extreme (definitely not rafting... had too many people I know of injured--one fatally so). Hiking's probably not too bad if you have easy access to a hospital, etc. Maybe we sound on the paranoid end of the spectrum, but just thinking that it hasn't been that long since your diagnosis, and I always go on the side of caution. Want you here for a long, long time!!!

But again, it's all perspective. I'm going on a plane ride in a couple of days... the first since DVT/PE, but it has been medically approved, and I'm feeling good and feeling good about going too. And many people might try to talk me out of it as well! So there you go!

So what does your doctor think?
B

Well, they are leaving tomorrow and I'm not going. I figured I just was not quite up for that kind of physical challenge yet. Plus, although the chances of hurting myself are slim, they exist and it is a long ways from medical care. Also, it would have been hard to find an animal sitter this late in the game who was willing to take care of two households worth of dogs, cats, horses, and gardens! Finally, I have some kind of throat thing going on (aren't we all hypochondriacs once the unexpected happens?) and until I get *that* sorted out, I just don't want to go off out into the boonies. But I am really starting to feel pretty normal in terms of overall health - went dancing last Friday and everything <VBG>. So I have answered at least one of the questions I had for the hematologist last time around - my stomach no longer hurts and that is a GOOD THING.

Cheers,

Hi Martha,

Glad to hear that you are feeling good!

Me too... feeling pretty "normal" now-a-days! Other than the odd twinge, etc. where my DVT says "helllooooo... I'm still here...don't forget about me!"... just enough to keep myself in check and not get complacent thinking I'm totally fine, when I'm still healing.

Sounds like you have an animal menagerie over there! Aww!

Glad also to hear your decision. If you have any doubts it's best not to do it. Plus, now that you're feeling good you don't want to push it. (I did that once, thinking I was great, and had a little setback!) Have they done any new ultrasounds, or will that be necessary? (To see the improvements.) I don't think I will be needing any more now. Once they saw some improvement, I think that that part is done now.

Anyhoo, have a super day! Hope your throat feels better soon!
Brenda