On September 8, 2021, when I was 24, I had an emergency appendectomy. Four days later, I went into the ER for extreme calf pain and tightness in my chest, as it felt like I couldn’t get a full breath.
I was diagnosed with DVTs in my left leg and bilateral lower lobe pulmonary emboli. I was admitted to the ICU step-down unit for 24 hours on a heparin drip before being discharged home.
I was placed on a rivaroxaban starter pack, then I was put on 20 mg of rivaroxaban. During a repeat CT scan of my chest in December 2021 to check if my PEs had cleared, I had a vein blow in my left arm, which led to a DVT in my left brachial vein while still consistently taking my rivaroxaban.
I was then placed on apixaban until April 2022, when my hematologist cleared me to stop my blood thinners as my genetic testing came back negative. Two weeks after stopping my blood thinners, on May 5, 2022, I went back to the ER and was diagnosed with a partial DVT in my left calf in one of my left mid-posterior tibial veins.
I have now been placed on 20 mg of rivaroxaban for life. I had an IVC filter placed before having my gallbladder removed in August 2022 to prevent getting more PEs post-surgery and was thankfully able to have it removed two weeks after my surgery without complications.
In terms of risk factors, I was on birth control pills and took a four-hour plane trip from Chicago, IL to Seattle, WA, followed by a three-hour drive from Seattle to Vancouver, Canada a few weeks before my emergency appendectomy.
My experiences with DVTs and PEs have changed my life and I’m extremely grateful to be here today at 26 years old. I am very thankful for my amazing hematologist, doctors, and nurses who have helped me and continue to follow me on this journey.
I have to be extremely careful when traveling in a car or on a plane to make sure I move around every hour and a half to two hours but I haven’t let this stop me from traveling the world!
Listen to your body, and don’t hesitate to get checked out no matter how young you are.
