I am a healthy 30-year-old woman. Or at least I thought I was.
This summer, I was getting my 1-year-old ready for the day. I lifted him onto the changing table and started to feel light headed. I grabbed him and put him on the floor and sat down to catch my breath, but I never did catch it.
I laid on the floor with difficulty breathing. I could hear my 3-year-old daughter in her room crying out for me. It gave me motivation to try crawling to her room, but the door was closed and I couldn’t open it.
I crawled across my house to find my phone. I called my husband (who did not answer), our small business (my mom did answer) and then 9-1-1.
We live in a rural area and my parents and husband beat the ambulance to our house to find me a shade of blue and laying on the floor unable to breathe.
I needed to be resuscitated twice at my rural hospital. They did not know what was going on and they decided at some point to administer a clot buster. My stats improved. They stabilized and sedated me then transported me to a bigger hospital.
At that hospital, I was diagnosed with a blood clot saddled on both lungs. I underwent a procedure to try to break the clot and it did not work. The blood clot had done damage to the right ventricle of my heart.
I was transferred to another hospital. They kept up the medicine and I was taken off sedation 24 hours later. Miraculously, I improved! Doctors told me they believed my PE was caused by hormonal birth control.
My diagnosis shook me. It’s been a few months and I’m home and doing better each day. My clot is still shrinking and I haven’t been able to do genetic testing yet. The doctors think that after the six month mark it will be safe to do so.
I’m physically able to do everything I could do before my PE. However, the anxiety is causes me each day is new.
This is one of those things that you know is a risk of birth control, but think it will never happen to you. The crazy part is I had seen my OB/GYN the day before and was fine. I’m permanently on blood thinners and grateful for the people who continue to help me live each day.
Resources
Know Your Risk
Birth Control
Living Your Best Life on Blood Thinners
