My story...update:

I've been doing pretty super...
* been on 7mg. since Aug. 21, which equates stabilization! Yahoo!
* made my long-distance flights at the end of Sept... all seemed okay.
* have not felt like my blood pressure is as low... no more fainting other than one time Sept. 7. Apparently, my blood pressure is at the lowest end of normal. (Hope I'm not repeating myself and haven't said this before! Anyhoo....)

Then, a few small glitches in the road lately:

* after the long flights back (Sept. 27), I started getting a bit sore in my DVT leg... understandable. So, had my sox on all the time.

* Oct. 1st had chest pain, in middle of my chest, then it moved over to the right side of my chest. It hurt to breathe in deeply, but not bad. I lied down and it went away after an hour and 1/2. I know the drill, to go to emerg., but it wasn't incapacitating, and I could breathe fine other than the little pain (like a stitch). I seem to remember having it once years ago, and think maybe it was only an air bubble in there or something. Anyhoo, when I reported it to my GP, he was not concerned.

* Coincidentally, at the same time, before my flight my GP said I could reduce my INRs to every 2 weeks. So I had one before I left (2.2), then did not get another done until Oct. 14. No calls, no results... so figured everything was good. Then got a call Oct. 20 from my GP's office informing me I needed to see him. So, rather than just telling me over the phone, they had me drive all the way to my GP's on Oct. 22 (over an hour away--where I used to live) to tell me in person to retest because my INR dropped to 1.6 after being stable for so long. He asked why I'd missed a dose. I said I couldn't have, because I have my pills in a weekly container, with the days of the week on it. I'd know if I missed one. Anyway, he didn't adjust my dose because he felt it might be an influction, since I was so stabilized finally in the last couple of months. Well, that was Wed., today's Sat. and I've heard nothing. Will have to call on Mon. I can only assume that it's okay. The strange thing, is that yesterday I had some symptoms of OVER dosing, not under dosing... i.e. petechia(?)--a patch of teeny red/purple dots on my DVT leg (top of leg--my DVT is lower leg.... I have had a few before on the bottom leg), and some bruising again. Would seem that my INR should be high, not low. I'm confused! Anyhoo, I will get it sorted out! But it all seems coincidental, after the flights, the soreness, the chest pain, and low INR. Hmmmm.... The time between INR testing, and telling me the results is driving me a bit batty. So there's my beef for the day!

In other news:
My in-person DVT Support Group is up on meetup.com. So I'm anxiously awaiting for some local members to join up!
http://www.meetup.com/DVT-Group-of-the-Lower-Mainland/

Hope all is well with you all! Take care,
me!

Hi all,

YES, you may note believe your eyes, but I AM back! Was working on contracts from Oct. 08 - Mar. 09 that consisted of very long days, then was away traveling for March and beg. of April, THEN my Dad passed away at the end of April, THEN I've been playing catch up! Anyhoo, apologies for my absence. Life kind of gets crazy sometimes! Not an excuse... it just it what it is.

Kudos to Denis and all his work and ongoing efforts on this site and working on getting our voice to be heard at a national level of organization. It will all come together!

I will have to scour through the site and get caught up on what I've been missing around here! Off to do that next!

In the meantime, if you know of anyone who lives in the Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley area of BC, who has VTE (DVT &/or PE) or would like information or to support, my DVT Support Group finally has enough members to meet. So our first official one will be July 22, 6:30-8:30pm. For all the info, please see: http://www.meetup.com/DVT-Support-Group-of-the-Lower-Mainland/

In NATF (North American Thrombosis Forum) news:
* a member of the advocacy committee has been working hard on creating a virtual NATF city in the virtual world of "Second Life". I will keep you posted when I have the link and all the details.
* NATF is now on Facebook... just getting started.
* The next NATF Summit is in Sept., so I expect to be attending.

As for my DVT/PE health:
* Still on Warfarin. Stabilized for quite a few months at 7.5 mg. (Although, once I had a bizarre INR reading, out of nowhere, of 5!!! But it all settled down in no time. Not sure how I managed to get it up there so high!?) Waiting for my Dr. to decide it's time to stop. Then once it's out of my system, I'm going for hereditary testing to ensure it's not in my genes, since my Dad had both arterial and venous clots, and was on Warfarin for 40+ years.
* Been having some pains in my left hip/pelvic area for a couple months. Feels like a muscle pull. Of course, my first thought was oh, oh... could it be DVT in my iliac vein? But probably not, the Dr. dismissed the notion... since I'm on Warfarin. But you and I know it IS a possibility. However, it's been so long now, I doubt it, or I'd be in serious trouble! So now we've been investigating it by exploring other things... ongoing, not really getting anywhere.

Anyhoo, that's some of my news.
Miss you all and glad to be back. Will try not to be a stranger!

Hi everyone!

Just started a DVT Support Group on Twitter. This is great for those who use Twitter to share info with other DVTers and to inform the general public. Follow on: www.twitter.com/DVTSupportGroup