On January 28, 2024, I took a hard fall and I thought I just pulled my calf. I elevated my leg, iced it, applied heat, and continued working out three to four times a week.
By February, my left calf had swollen up. I thought maybe I had sprained it so I used the massage chairs and foam roller at the gym, but nothing was helping. My calf started to feel heavy. This started to worry me, as my aunt had passed away years ago from a pulmonary embolism.
My husband convinced me to go to urgent care. The doctor was a little concerned with the swelling but was confused that I didn’t have excruciating pain. They drew blood and gave me a D-dimer test, which came up positive for a blood clot.
I was told to go to the emergency room immediately. I was so nervous as I had flashbacks of what happened to my aunt. At the ER, they took another blood test and confirmed my clot, but unfortunately, they didn’t have an ultrasound tech and told me that I would have to come in the following morning to get an ultrasound of my left leg.
They did inject me with a blood thinner in my stomach because they were very sure that I had blood clots, but they sent me home. The next morning I came in for an ultrasound and found that I had two blood clots: one in my popliteal vein and the other in my posterior tibial vein. They sent me back to the emergency room where I was prescribed rivaroxaban and compression socks.
On March 20, I was at work and started to feel excruciating pain on the top of my left foot and my pulse kept racing. I went to the ER and they found a tiny PE. They told me to continue on rivaroxaban and check in if anything got worse. I still have swelling in my leg but I remain active and positive!
Resources
Living Your Best Life on Blood Thinners
How is a DVT Diagnosed?
Know Your Risk
