On March 21, 2024, I woke up having extreme shortness of breath while trying to get ready for work. Finally, I decided to text my boss to tell him I was going to be late.
I made it to work at 10:00 and let my boss know what was going on with me. At the time, I had a bad cold and thought it had progressed to pneumonia. He asked me if I wanted him to drive me to the ER, I told him no, I’ll drive myself. I know, I wasn’t thinking!
When I got there, I immediately pulled up at the front entrance and told the security guards that I needed to check in but I was having shortness of breath. Their response was, “Stay right here, give me the keys to your car. We’ll park it and get a wheelchair for you and check you in.”
Once I was checked in, they did an EKG to see if I was having a heart attack. The results showed no heart attack. They gave me a chest X-ray and did a Covid test. Of course, no Covid and no pneumonia, but the X-ray showed some bronchitis. They said I still should not be having shortness of breath like this.
Finally, they did a CAT scan on my lungs and that’s when the clots were found. They immediately had my IV dripping with heparin, which is a blood thinner.
The next morning they performed a thrombectomy to remove the clots. I stayed in the hospital for four days until I was able to move around without shortness of breath. I’m now home on apixaban for life and going through a slow recovery.
Even though I’m now on blood thinners and have to have periodic bloodwork done, I thank God for sparing my life because as my primary care physician told me, “You almost died!”
Resources
Thrombectomy and Other Treatments
How is a PE Diagnosed?
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
