Two weeks after giving birth to our second son, I got out of bed and noticed my leg was hurting, and I was barely able to put weight on it.
I went about my day as normal, but I started to feel heavy and tired. When I sat down and put my feet up, I realized my leg had now doubled in size and it was purple.
I called my doctor, who told me to wait two days and go for a blood test Monday. This gives me instant relief and I carry on about my day. But once my husband came home from work he told me we should go to A&E (the emergency department in the UK) , just to be safe.
I had my blood taken and I was sitting in the waiting room ready to get the results and leave. I got up a few times and noticed my leg was getting more painful. My chest suddenly felt tight, everything around me became muffled and blurry, and I passed out.
When I came to, nurses and a doctor helped me up, put me in a wheelchair, and rushed me into intensive care. They thought I had a blood clot, and I had passed out because it moved to my lungs (pulmonary embolism).
After an emergency CT scan confirmed the PE, I was also told that I had a condition called May-Thurner syndrome and that the pregnancy was likely to have caused the clot to form. I was admitted to the hospital with a bilateral pulmonary embolism and right heart strain.
After a few days, my leg swelling went down. I was still in a lot of pain but was discharged and sent home. It took me a few weeks to be up and walking again, and for a while, anytime I did, my heart rate would skyrocket! But my body had experienced so much trauma it didn’t surprise me.
I’ll always be so grateful for the doctor who treated me that day and for my husband for insisting we go to the hospital and not wait until Monday for a blood test. If we had, there’s no way I’d be here watching my boys grow up.
My advice to others is if you believe something is wrong, always go with your gut! Also, medical PTSD is so real. Please seek help if you feel it is weighing heavy on you. We have to keep on living.
Resources
May-Thurner Syndrome
Psychological Impact of Blood Clots
Pregnancy and Postpartum
