What a shock. There really aren’t words to say how we felt with this news. Shocking is simply the best word to describe it. Over the course of the next week, AJ met with hematology and vascular surgery and it was decided that the best course of action would be a thrombolysis, or clot busting procedure, to get rid of the clot and determine what the cause was. Her vascular surgeon, Dr. Harris had suggested May Thurner Syndrome because of the location of the clot. May Thurner Syndrome occurs when the left iliac vein is compressed by the overlying right iliac artery, causing the blood to pool and clot. The current treatment for this (after removal of the clot) is to put in a stent to hold the vein open and prevent this compression from occurring again.
We got through all this and AJ was home for Christmas. Best Christmas present ever! However, she was still very weak, and pale, and taking blood thinner injections. She also still had the IVC filter placed in her vena cava to prevent any clot remnants from going to her lungs and causing pulmonary embolism. The IVC filter would be removed in a few weeks to ensure there were no remnants left.
Fast forward to today. After all this, I would like to think that AJ and I became closer. We started talking about what we would like to do. And we came up with Decorous Designs. It encompasses both of our creative sides, it keeps us relaxed, and it’s something we can be passionate about. At the same time, it keeps AJ focused on creativity, and not so worried about what the future may hold.
AJ’s Journey with MTS will be a focus on some of our posts. The updates I sent out to family and friends while she was going through the procedure will also be posted. We want to raise awareness that DVT (deep vein thrombosis - blood clots) is something that can affect anyone of any age, race, etc. We especially would love to see more awareness for this in Canada. AJ was very blessed to have treatment so quickly and have some amazing doctors on her medical team. Many in Canada diagnosed with this are not so lucky and it takes months and sometimes years to get proper diagnosis. They have to go outside of Canada for treatment at their own expense . We hope that by getting the word out about AJ’s Journey, it will help another person going through this, and be able to find and receive treatment quickly.
Thanks for dropping by! We welcome any comments.
Chantelle and AJ