My husband and took a trip to Destin, Florida for a long weekend after finding out my breast biopsy surgery was benign. We drove 14 hours in one day from Michigan and returned a few days later, only stopping twice for gas.
I returned to work and walked to my office up two flights of stairs. I felt out of breath and joked I must have overdone it on my short trip with sweets and drinks. After work, while coaching my son’s 1st-grade robotics team, I started feeling achy all over. I took some ibuprofen and continued on.
Later that night, I was prepping for a big interview in the morning and I still didn’t feel good. I decided to take a Covid test, which was negative. So I took another dose of ibuprofen and went to bed at 10 p.m.
Around 1 a.m. I woke up with pain between my shoulder blades and the right side of my chest. I thought maybe it was gas, but the pain progressively got worse when I laid down or took deep breaths.
Knowing I had this interview at 7 a.m., I thought I’d just make it through that and get it checked out after. But by 3 a.m., I woke up my husband said I think I need to go to the hospital. I walked into the ER complaining of chest pains every time I took a breath.
I was seen immediately and had blood work showing elevated platelets and high D-dimer. A CT was ordered. The results showed that I had multiple bilateral PEs and a large clot causing right heart strain.
I was immediately placed on a heparin drip and transferred to another hospital where I underwent a thrombectomy 18 hours later. No DVT was ever found.
The clot was the size of a golf ball. When I saw my hematologist later, he said on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being death, I was at a 9.
Testing ensued and no genetic factors were found. My only risk factors was estrogen-based birth control and a long car ride. I was placed on apixaban for a year and then as needed when traveling over two hours.
This has changed my lifestyle, in that I now pay attention to my body very closely. I stopped drinking caffeine and only consume water. Slowly I began walking to improve my lifestyle and health.
Also, because of my blood clot experience, I was able to help an employee get medical attention for a DVT based on hearing his symptoms.
My advice to others is to pay attention when your body talks to you. And don’t be afraid to go to the ER. It’s why they are there. Recovery is a slow process, but it does happen.
Resources
Blood Clot Resource Center
Women and Blood Clots
Travel and Blood Clots
