Hello, everyone! It's been a while since I've been able to blog on here. This blog post is going to be deeply personal, but I feel very strongly that it is vital information that I need to disseminate to the best of my ability. I am depending on each of you to pass along this information to anyone who is going to have orthopedic surgery, and female that is on oral contraceptives, or anyone that is otherwise at risk for blood clots. I will talk about what these are and then give you my personal story.
I used to think when I saw commercials listing blood clots as a risk that it was no big deal. However, it is a huge deal. I had orthopedic ankle surgery on July 22nd of this year. Everything was going well, I was recovering well. After a couple of cast changes, I got one that felt pretty tight. I had calf cramping and decided to just rest up as much as I could. After all, I had asked about the pain and was told it was normal. So, day after day I just bummed around the house, spending most of my time alternating between the couch and the bed. Finally, one Sunday I didn't get out of bed except to use the bathroom all day. My husband was awesome, he brought me all my meals and doted on me hand and foot. By Tuesday night I had finally had enough. My foot was getting so discolored, it was gross and the pain was unbearable. Wednesday I demanded a cast change and they begrudgingly did it, still telling me all my symptoms were normal. Once the cast was cut, my leg felt like it was on fire, then my foot tingled for a good 5 minutes. All the while, I'm reporting these symptoms to the cast tech, and he is not responding at all, just rewraps it. I'm feeling better, my discoloration is down, cramping is fading away, I'm thinking problem solved.
That weekend, my husband I drove to see my aunt and uncle out of town. Friday night when I went to bed, I felt super anxious. I tossed and turned all night stressing over completely insignificant matters. Looking back, I firmly believe I had what the American Red Cross calls a "sense of doom". Many people experience such emotions prior to a major health complication. Saturday morning, I wake up, hobble to the kitchen on my crutches to get some coffee and have extremely intense chest pain. I sat down, used my inhaler and waited to see if the pain lessened. It did. Most of the day, I was symptom free. Until about 3pm. More intense pain, feeling as if I'm going to pass out. Used the inhaler again. Symptoms lessened, but I still had some chest pain. After dinner, I was walking from the car back to my aunt and uncle's couch and I almost didn't make it. I flopped down and put my head down, generally what would relieve symptoms of passing out as blood flow gets restored to the head, but that made it worse. So I sat back up and asked my husband take me to urgent care, which he readily did.
Fortunately, at urgent care our doctor was awesome. He said because I am young (it's relative :D) and healthy, the chances of it being anything serious are small but need to be further investigated. He did not have the ability to do a CT Scan, so he wrote up a report and sent us to the closest Emergency Room. I was seen right away there. Once I was in a room in the ER, I got up to use the bathroom and my pulse shot up to 148 bpm and my blood pressure, which normally runs about 110/68 or so, was above the hypertensive threshold which is 140/90. I don't recall exactly what it was, but that was when they told me I was no longer able to get out of bed. A CT scan confirmed that I had one giant saddleback pulmonary embolism. If it dislodged, I would die. Two days later I learned that five out of six lobes of my lungs were either completely or partially blocked with clots. At this point, I'm unsure if I have six separate clots, or just the way the one is sitting, caused all the blockage, but nonetheless, I had to rely on my body to do the right thing and get me through this.
Three days on bedrest in the ICU followed. Then an additional 5 days on the floor. I was started right away on blood thinners, shots and tablets to try to dislodge the clots. What felt like 100 tests were done to test my blood levels of the thinners daily, along with hematology panels to see if I had any clotting disorders that had previously gone undiagnosed. The long and the short of it is there was nothing wrong with me. Just a cast that was too tight and a voice that went unheard until it was almost too late.
I suppose the lesson I would love everyone to take home with them is this: when you see commercials for drugs that say "increased risk of blood clots", carefully think about all that entails. Exercise regularly so that your veins can properly pump blood through rather than letting it pool. When you have surgery, talk to your doctor about some of the signs and symptoms of blood clots, which is a very real risk post-operation when your body is already in a hyper healing state. I found out later that orthopaedic surgeries commonly have clotting complications.
And by all means, make your voice be heard. You know your body better than anyone else. If you have a legitimate concern: pain, discomfort, unusual fatigue, inability to go about your daily activities, make sure someone takes it seriously. It could save your life.
