|
Triathlon
Magazine Covers
Race Reports
Austria World Cup May 2006
Media Stories
What Jenkins did was awesome - it is indicative of
triathlon
>>> Full Story
Jenkins' flirt with DVT tragedy
>>>Full Story
Jenkins Takes Gold
>>>Full Story
Jinx's DVT
Health Reports
Between April and May, I became
increasingly unwell and unable to perform in
training. After traveling to Hawaii and then onto
Mexico, I returned home and began almost immediately
suffering with what I thought was a strained muscle.
The pain was at its worst in the mornings, and was
relieved, initially after a few steps, but as the
weeks went on this went to a few minutes.
After I had been home for 2 weeks, my
training began to get harder and harder. My
girlfriend began telling me I had pleurisy again due
to the way I was breathing and a cough I had, but I
dismissed this. Initially it felt like fatigue and
shortness of breath, but this was familiar to me as
I had suffered with identical symptoms and feelings
in the past, with unexplainable dips in training
ability. After 3 weeks things had become even worse,
my heart rate would continue to increase after
repetitions, my breathing was short and rapid and
the pain in my leg was getting increasingly worse.
On Sunday May 22nd, I raced a 25 mile
time trial on the bike, and managed a time of 1hour
and 3 mins. I was expecting almost 10 minutes
faster. During the race my shortness of breath
turned into a 10 minute stint of wheezing which I
have never experienced before. After the race my leg
was extremely painful, I was under the impression I
had an injury coming on! That night my leg was
increasingly painful. I eventually got up at around
5 o’clock as the pain was now intense, only to see
my leg over 10% bigger than the other. The only way
I can describe it is, that it was like blowing up a
balloon to the point of it popping.
On the 23rd of May I was admitted to
Hospital and given relevant Drugs to treat my
diagnosed DVT. I was informed that I had a serious
condition as I had numerous DVT’s throughout my leg
and these had traveled through my Heart and into my
lungs. This is known as a Pulmonary Embolism (PE).
Whilst a DVT can kill you, a PE represents an even
greater risk. What was of more concern to the
radiologist was that I had a number of apparent
scars on my lungs which meant I have had previous
Pulmonary Embolisms.
What the Doctors told me
Initially in hospital I was given a
few different stories from different people. I was
kept there for a week, and told I needed various
tests to see what had caused this, and other
problems. The treatment was good but my leg was very
painful for 3 days when I couldn’t sleep and then
couldn’t walk properly for about 2-3 weeks after.
Dr
Peter Collins, Consultant Haematologist
Dr Collins looked at all my blood
results and came to one conclusion, that I have been
getting DVT’s due to my genetics. From the tests he
did, I have a Protein S level of 29, this apparently
should be between 55-165. The more Protein S you
have the thinner your blood is, hence mine is
extremely low, meaning my blood is very thick.
Further more a Prothrombin Gene Variant, which is
Heterozygous (apparently abnormal). These 2
conditions I am told will mean I have no trouble in
clotting, I can turn on my clotting factors but when
it comes to turning them off, that’s where I have
trouble.
Dr Collins believes that the reasons
I have had DVT’s in the past is mainly due to this.
A secondary factor is dehydration, and thirdly long
periods of immobilisation, e.g. flying. Basically,
flying to a race, competing and flying straight back
has posed serious hazards to my health and caused
these conditions to arise.
Dr Collins has advised that whenever
I travel over 4 hours, by car, air etc then I inject
with a blood thinning agent called heparin every 12
hours until I reach my destination. All the genetic
traits I have are apparent in both my uncle and
mother and have been inherited by myself.
Dr Collins has a further concern
about my Heart. He was concerned that due to the
scaring on my lungs my heart could be under pressure
(hypertension). If this was the case, then I had
another major health issue. On scanning the lungs my
heart was given the all clear and no apparent
problems. I was hoping that this was precautionary
only.
The next major issue was the vein and
the damage to it caused by the DVT. For this my
consultant was Mr Jonathan
Earnshaw.
Mr
Earnshaw’s opinion
My initial contact with Mr Earnshaw
made me believe that what ever he wanted to tell me,
he would, no matter how harsh, or how much I may not
want to hear it. I saw Mr Earnshaw approximately 8
weeks after the DVT. He looked at the size of my leg
and said it looked good!
The obvious question now needed to be
asked, and that was will I compete again? The answer
was less than re assuring. He said, 8 weeks ago he
would simply have advised me, in his opinion I would
never compete again, but in 8 weeks all he was
willing to say is it was improving. I was then given
a date for a further scan to see how the vein was
progressing, which was 11 weeks from being admitted
to hospital.
The scan was fine and the Radiologist
was hesitant to say too much, I asked what happened
next, she explained she would complete a report and
forward that on to Mr Earnshaw. I asked what that
report would say, she explained that she expected to
see a great deal more damage than she did from what
Mr Earnshaw had said about my condition, while there
was some damage, It wasn’t as bad as expected.
I was fully expecting Mr Earnshaw to
be brutally honest with me in his further
consultation, but over the past weekend I received a
letter from him stating that most people have 1
major vein the thigh but I have 3 running parallel
with each other. The thrombosis is only affecting
one of these veins, and he is now much more
optimistic I will make a good recovery from this.
From what I understand that is the best news you can
get from a consultant who will always be on the
cautious side.
All the Doctors I have seen during
this period of time have said the same, I’m lucky to
be alive, and possibly if I wasn’t this fit I
wouldn’t be! At present I don’t feel particularly
lucky.
Looking Back at the past
As I said previously, the symptoms
leading up to this were not unfamiliar to me. I have
had them before although obviously not as
significant as this. Fortunately for me this
happened, if it had not then eventually I would have
died from it, and if it hadn’t become so severe this
time I would still have not gone to hospital.
The scars on my lungs are proof that
this is not the first PE I have suffered, so when
have I had them before? I can only speculate on
this, but believe that the following incidents
represent a similar pattern to the one just
experienced. I have talked through this with various
doctors, who although say that this can never
obviously be proven now, they have definitely
happened at some point. I have in the past been
diagnosed with pleurisy, but this was some what
skeptical as there was no apparent cause for the
condition, subsequent to this diagnosis I had
exactly the same pain on another 2 occasions prior
to it being diagnosed. It was extremely painful each
time, it caused me to cough in a similar manner each
time and always caused fatigue, and very poor
training, and hence racing, and was always around
periods of racing and travelling.
My
Opinions of when my health has suffered
This condition isn’t one which has
developed over time! I was born with it, but I do
believe the symptoms have got worse and worse over
the years to eventually cause this.
In 1996 I began long haul travelling.
I began at certain point of the year to loose
fitness and form unexplainably. This will coincide
with when I began long haul flying. There is no one
incident up until 2001 where I can say I had a major
health issue, but I would at periods I’d struggle to
breathe and didn’t quite feel right. I was diagnosed
with Asthma By Dr Rod Jauques in 1998 I believe due
to a poor lung function test, but on later tests my
lungs were shown to be perfect.
The first major Health issue I am
aware of came in April 2001. I flew to Japan for a
series of 2 races. On arrival I started suffering
with a pain in my heart. It was worse on resting,
and easier on an increased heart rate. The race went
terrible and I felt dreadful during the 2 weeks. I
was given an ECG, but everything appeared fine.
Later that year, I finished 14th at Worlds and had 1
top 5 and 1 top 10 on a World Cup. There is no
apparent reason for my form to have been so bad in
Japan and to go on to my best season so far and a
good improvement.
I believe 2002 was relatively
incident free, my health seemed fine for the most
and I encountered very few bad patches in training.
2003 was a year when I definitely
experienced more pain with illness than I had ever
felt before. In January I flew to Australia. After a
good first few weeks of training, for no apparent
reason I began to loose form, again very similar to
how I felt recently training, times were down and
effort levels were far too high for me to achieve
the times I needed. It was thought I had may be over
trained. I raced at Mooloolaba and barely made it
round the course. I then went on to race in Portugal
and National champs, which showed I was in great
form so why such poor results only 2 months before?
My training progressed very well and along with my
coach we were expecting things to move on. Results
became very stagnant, and During a night in
September, approximately 5 weeks after a long haul
flight, I suffered with severe pains in my back
during breathing, I was awake in severe pain all
night and I had no idea what it was, when I stood up
the next day the pain had gone, so didn’t worry too
much more about it! I had the pain for another few
days but wasn’t as bad and I managed to sleep after
taking pain killers. I now know that this pain is
representative of pleurisy and possibly one of the
causes of scaring on my lungs. I went on to struggle
in competition for the rest of the year with no
apparent reason.
In the winter of 2003/2004 I
experienced almost exactly the same pattern of
events as I have done over the last 16 weeks.
After returning home from World
Champs in New Zealand, My training and form went
very low for no apparent reason. I kept pushing yet
always felt flat, but by this time I was becoming
accustomed to poor patches in form. I remember
Christmas morning 6am going to get my k reps done
out of the way! I had been feeling bad for weeks,
and had some pleuritic pain but not as severe. My
heart rate was high (173) which would have meant a
comfortable sub 3 min k, but I came in on over 4:15,
unbelievable. I jogged and went home. This poor form
continued for another few weeks, I eventually got
over it, but again there was no apparent reason for
such a poor few months.
I
then went to Australia in 2004, where training
seemed to progress relatively well after the drop in
form. I again had another bout of the pleuratic
pain. I consulted relevant doctors and physios but
nothing was apparent. With in a few weeks of this I
started to suffer in training but not too
significantly, I then raced in Ishigaki and had one
of the worst performance’s to date. I felt dreadful
and anaerobic through out the race.
Later that year I raced in Funchal
at the World Champs. After returning from this I
again had a more severe pain on breathing in my
lower back. I had 3 sleepless nights as the pain was
so severe. It was after this incident that the pain
I was having was representative of pleuritic pain
and I was diagnosed with an infection on my lung
after a scan. The problem and question here was
there was no apparent cause of this? I had to take a
few weeks off.
I began training again, and in July
raced in Cornerbrook, the sensations I experienced
there were similar to what I had prior to this. My
Heart rate seemed excessively high and respiration
was rapid, all in all the effort level was far too
high. I believe that this was the most apparent case
of another DVT and PE for me, the symptoms and
feelings here were almost identical to what I felt
over the last few months.
The cases I have isolated above,
have all come with in a 5 week period after a long
haul flight, where I may have been de hydrated. From
my experiences over the past 4 months, I can now
look back on periods where I thought I had over
trained and had poor form and results for no
apparent reason, and correlate these feelings and
incidents to long haul flights and I believe are the
causes of the scaring on my lungs. There is no doubt
that I have had past PE’s as explained and these are
in my opinion the periods where they have occurred.
There has never been an answer for my unexplained
drops in performance but now there is.
The
Future
I want to give myself the chance to
perform at my best with a healthy body, and see what
I can achieve with no impediments. If all I can
achieve is top 20 in the World then I will
regrettably walk away from sport, but my training
and isolated performances indicate I am capable of
so much better.
I have been told by doctors that in
the past I would have been performing on 4 cylinders
as opposed to 5, so I need to see how I can perform
healthy.
I have suffered with a DVT over the
past few seasons; these incidents will have affected
my training for at least 6 weeks as it did recently.
This will have had a knock on affect on my racing
due to such poor training over the period.
From the recent scans it seems the
prognosis now looks good and I will make a better
recovery than first thought. I believe that such a
positive report from Mr Earnshaw, who is a cautious
Doctor, makes things look good for a good, and
hopefully full recovery, but only time will tell on
that.
Summary
I have had a serious health incident,
which can be fatal. I have had health issue’s of the
past answered and I have had genetic faults
identified which could, and would have led to
recurring DVT’s and PE’s. I can look back and
identify illnesses and decline’s in performance to
previous episode’s due to the feelings I had over
the last few months and similar sensations during
that time. What I am not trying to do is blame bad
performances on this incident. Although for me it
has always been a mystery how I can be performing so
well in training and in certain races and within a
matter of weeks it all falls apart with no apparent
reason at times. It may appear that I’m making an
excuse for myself here, but in my mind there is only
one reason now for this to have happened in the
past.
If you consider the possibility that
my leg hadn’t become so swollen after my race. If
that had been the case I would not have gone to
hospital. I would have raced the Windsor Triathlon,
and undoubtedly would have found it harder than I
should have and would have had to answer questions
about my ability to myself and all those around me.
I would have carried on with a series of average
results and may be at some point would have got over
the illness and with a bit of luck would have hit a
result somewhere when my health and body had time to
sort themselves out. It would have been another
season by the way side, in the same pattern as the
past few seasons.
Fortunately I have been given a
second chance. Health and body willing I will be
able to train and race with healthy blood and a
healthy body. My results may not improve, but I
don’t accept that. I believe now that with
consistent training and health I can give myself an
opportunity I have never had. I get the chance at a
new career, recovery willing in 2006. |
