Grateful for being a Bad Patient

I was reading CNN.com this morning and saw a picture of the actor that played Charlotte's husband on Sex & the City with a headline about being a "bad patient". Read it here if you're interested.
http://www.cnn.com/2008/HEALTH/10/02/ep.evan.handler.patient.advocate/index.html

Essentially he argued that you have to watch out for yourself when it comes to your health. Doctors and nurses make mistakes too.

It reminded me of how grateful I am for having been a bit of a bad patient myself...maybe not bad--let's call it pushy. In January 2003 (just four months before Bill and I got married), I was experiencing intense pain in my lower abdomen and upper thigh. Doubled over in pain, I hobbled to the health center on campus where, after some examination that ruled out ovarian cysts, I was dismissed with a pulled muscle from the new exercise routine I had undertaken as part of a New Year's resolution.

Two days later, in even worse pain, I drove myself to the hospital convinced this could not be just a pulled muscle. Again, after some examination the ER doc was ready to send me home with muscle relaxants. I pleaded with them to do an ultrasound because I had self-diagnosed myself on the internet with an atypical hernia. I said "I know it doesn't appear to be a hernia, but can you please just check? This is not just a pulled muscle."

One ultrasound and an hour later they determined I did not have a hernia, but I did have a deep vein thrombosis (blood clot) in my left thigh. I was immediately placed on total bed rest because they feared any movement (even the dozen steps to the bathroom) could cause the clot to break up and travel to my lungs, which would have resulted in a pulmonary embolism. Bill was stuck at Fort Knox, so my mother jumped in the car as fast as she could and made her way down to PA from Chateaugay. After four days in the hospital and a blood thinning drug regiment I would use for a year, I was finally released.

I shudder to even think about what might have happened if I had tried to push through the pain and go work in my office that day.

So my public service announcement for the day (brought to you by my love for all things related to Sex and the City) is:

Always trust yourself when it comes to your health.

Oh, and also, VOTE! I'm looking forward to the VP debate tonight.