Misdiagnosed

George’s persistence helped save his life after his first pulmonary embolism was misdiagnosed and his initial DVT was not treated. I reported for one of my 24 hour shifts as a Firefighter/Paramedic in November 2007.  There was a carbon monoxide call that required me to be on a ladder for an extended time that meant…

My story begins after I lost my dog, Lakota, from sudden internal bleeding, who was my pet and wonderful friend for 12 years.  I was so upset at my loss that I wept for many hours; the type of weeping that caused my chest to heave.  Later that night, I had severe cramping along the…

September of 2010 was busy in the King household.  The kids had just started a new school year, I was neck deep in volunteer work at school, and I was teaching cooking classes on fall cooking techniques.  We were so busy that I never stopped to think about the weird pains that started affecting my…

My experience with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and pulmonary embolism (PE) started in June 2010 when I was 37 years old.  My symptoms began a couple of days after I returned to Miami from a two week trip to Israel with my wife and best friends.  I felt a sharp pain in my left calf…

I consider myself a healthy 47 year old woman.  I exercise daily, eat healthy food choices, and am a non-smoker. In April 2011, I felt stabbing pains in my back on the right hand side under my rib cage, and the pain got worse every time I took a breath.  My husband drove me to…

Carmen McArthur’s story demonstrates the risk of blood clots associated with birth control pills.  Although the prescribing physician mentioned the risk, this patient did not think that she would be affected.  She chose the therapeutic benefit of the pills to treat heavy menstrual bleeding over what she perceived as minimal clotting …

I learned about NBCA in a brochure that was in my doctor’s office at the University of North Carolina, and wanted to share my story. I woke up one morning recently, and noticed that my left leg was swollen, and also felt pain in back of it, so much so that it felt as if…

My name is Andy Morris, age 26. I have always been aware of the threat of blood clots, because my dad has had to take a “blood thinner” daily due to a protein deficiency.  He has a history of blood clots in his legs, and in one instance in particular he developed not just one,…

I never knew that I was a risk for a blood clot that nearly killed me. One week after giving birth to my second child I started experiencing hip pain, called the OB office, spoke with a nurse and I was told that it was probably the result of delivery and I was advised to…

My name is Christa and I have been a cardiac nurse at South Shore Hospital in S. Weymouth, MA for the past 15 years. My story is not from any of my many years of working in the medical profession but rather of the challenges I came across from the other side of nursing, as…