As some of you know, I have been overseas for the last 7 weeks touring south east Asia including Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam. I blogged about it at https://bradmac.id.au/blog I got home yesterday - and just in the nick of time it seems. As mentioned in my blog, I started noticing a pain in my left calf about a week before the end of our trip. I thought I'd strained it by carrying our suitcases up and done some steep staircases in Vietnam and thought nothing more of it. But after a few days the pain was not reducing and my wife queried whether it might be a deep vein thrombosis (DVT). I consulted Dr. Google - and discovered that I had a perfect example of DVT symptoms. Panic stations. I consulted a doctor at a hospital while in Vietnam. He conducted an ultrasound and could not detect a thrombosis, but instead said I had a collapsed vein. He prescribed some blood thinning drugs and sent me on my way. I wasn't entirely relieved, but felt a little better that it wasn't an obvious thrombosis. I was a bit stressed on the flights home. My mind kept playing on the thought that I did have a thrombosis and further flying time might cause it to break apart and cause a pulmonary embolism. I made it home and went to the local emergency department. It's the weekend and it was busy with sporting injuries but after a 2 hour wait, I got to see the doctor. The examination result was that I have a superficial blood clot in my calf rather than a deep vein clot. Apparently superficial is not as dangerous. Due to it being the weekend they will only call in an ultrasound specialist if it is a dire emergency. At least I'm not in that category, but I have to go back on Monday (tomorrow) for the ultrasound. --- 2018-05-20 bradmac@freeshell.org