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MY HEALTH EXPERIENCE:I HAVE just injected myself in the thigh. Without weeping or flinching. It is Sunday, April 25th, and I am in the Rotunda Hospital in Dublin undergoing treatment for deep vein thrombosis (DVT), a blood clot that formed in my calf last week as a side effect of pregnancy and travelled up to my pelvis. Here’s what happened.

By 8.30pm, my left leg is still sore and I am exhausted. Removing my boots, it is obvious that the swelling I noticed earlier has spread up to the thigh, but affects only one leg. I decide to overreact by phoning the emergency room at the Rotunda Hospital, which I am attending for pre-natal care. I describe my symptoms to the midwife on duty, who asks what colour my leg is. It has changed from freckled grey to mottled purplish red. “You’d better get in here now,” is the firm reply.