In March 2011, I had a C-section and developed a superficial clot in my left leg, My treatment was compression socks and I felt better after a week.
Years later, on March 30, 2024, I had a fall from an electric scooter. All my weight fell on my left leg, but somehow, I got up and was able to continue walking. The next day I went to the ER because my leg hurt too much. They took an X-ray and the result showed no fracture.
But my leg continued to feel weird, so I asked my primary doctor for an MRI, which showed a minimal fracture in the knee, tear through the body and posterior horns of the medial meniscus, and injury to the menisco-capsular ligaments of the lateral meniscus.
My leg was very bruised and the swelling continued to increase. Finally I was seen by an orthopedic doctor 16 days later. He suspected a DVT. They did a Doppler and it turned out that I had a DVT behind the knee and another in the inner thigh.
Another specialist performed an abdominal Doppler because my groin area was very sore and my veins were visible. I had three more DVTs, two in my groin and one near my belly button for a total of five DVTs. I was also diagnosed with May-Thurner syndrome.
I was devastated by the news. They sent me home with anticoagulants and hoped for the best. Later they repeated the Doppler of the extremities and abdomen, and out of five clots, only one remains in the left external iliac vein, and a partially recanalized DVT in the left common femoral vein.
I’m still taking the blood thinners and exercising. It was a very difficult time, I even started taking anxiety medication. On several occasions I was hospitalized because I couldn’t breathe and felt chest pain, fearing it was a pulmonary embolism. Thank God it was never the diagnosis, but rather my anxiety left me short of breath. Today I still have a clot in my inner thigh but I’m staying positive and continuing my medication.
Resources
Know Your Risk
Psychological Impact of Blood Clots
May-Thurner syndrome
