Patient Stories

I am a healthy 44-year-old mom, wife, and professional who has never had any health issues. But 2024 was an extremely busy year, and I was having a lot of stress and anxiety. In October, I started experiencing some minor pain in my shoulder. Within a few days, the pain had moved into my side…

A week before everything took a drastic turn, I had fallen and broken my foot. I was placed in a boot and told to rest. A few days later, I noticed the back of my knee hurting. Not just a regular ache, but one that felt like a cramp and the pain meds didn’t touch…

In April 2022 here in New Zealand, my first pulmonary embolism was detected by chance. I mentioned a fluttery heart while having a routine flu vaccine. This prompted the nurse to check, and she discovered an irregular rhythm. The doctor then ordered a few tests, including a D-dimer. By that night I was in the…

On Thursday, August 15, 2024, I had right knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. On Saturday, I experienced cramping in my calf that radiated up to my knee and behind it. By Sunday I had shortness of breath and a racing heart, the pain in my leg was excruciating – hot and radiating up…

One morning I was feeling lightheaded, so I checked my running watch and saw my heart rate was in the low 40s. I assumed I’d just stood up too quickly. As the day went on, I felt some chest pressure, which I chalked up to anxiety, something I often experience with POTS. But the pressure…

I started having superficial clots (SVTs) in the early 1990s, which was attributed to birth control. Genetic testing was not available at that time. I joined a list serve (email group) to learn more. Fifteen years later, with occasional SVTs and genetic testing now available, I was diagnosed with one factor V Leiden gene (heterozygous).…

I simply woke up one day with a swollen painful right leg. I didn’t think much of it until my lady suggested that I make my way to the ER for a quick check. They did an ultrasound and found the clot from my knee to my calf. They immediately injected me twice in the…

In December 2023, I finally got Covid. Not once, but twice with a rebound version. I was so sick I couldn’t move on the second round. For months, I worked with my GP to modify and add medications, trying to get my breathing better. Nothing worked, and I barely left the house for months. It…

At five days postnatal, I started having pain in my right calf. I rang maternity at the hospital, who ran through the clot checklist: “Is it hot to touch? No. Is it red? No. Is it swollen? No.” Apart from the pain, there were no other symptoms. I was told to ring back if the…

My first DVT was in July 1995, two weeks after the birth of my first (and only) child. I had a shooting pain in my left buttocks and rode an ambulance to the hospital with my newborn and husband. The ER docs did not seem to consider the possibility of a DVT and were looking…