After days of hay fever I finally managed to get to the doctor and get a prescription for my heavy duty nasal spray. Almost instant relief. Of course the doctor’s visit was for something else. Two weeks ago I tripped up the stairs at work and gave myself a monster bruise on my shin. It turned a beautiful shade of purple almost immediately and grew a big lump. I dutifully treated it with ice and congratulated myself on being 1. brave 2. first aid literate (thank you Girl Guide training). It was sore to touch but I figured it was a big bruise so it would take some time to disappear. Last Thursday I was teaching at Innes Park and afterwards looked down at my foot which was significantly swollen and there was bruising where there had been no bruising before. Resisting the urge to panic (just) and pacified by my good friend ringing her husband who is a cardiologist to check if I should be worried (worry if both feet are swollen – heart or kidney problems) I went home but decided to go to the doctor the next day. Just to be on the safe side. I also scared myself a little bit stupid by googling “bruised shin swollen foot”. You’d be surprised how many results pop up.

“Hmmm” she said. And then swiftly booked me in for the last ultrasound of the day at the medical imaging place. I do not have fond memories of ultrasounds given that the last one picked up the monstrous ovarian cyst. I was slightly disconcerted on arrival at the ultrasound place when the nice lady at the desk told me “Because we’re looking for a DVT that’s an emergency so you’ll go in straight away”. Long story short, I was very brave, the gooey stuff was warm, the ultrasound lady was nice and finished up by telling me to “have a good weekend”. I figured if there had been something wrong she would have picked up the bat phone and whisked me into emergency. The report clarified my amateur diagnosis. All’s well that ends well. I slept well on Friday night for sure.