• You may have to login or register before you can post and view our exclusive members only forums.
    To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Pulmonary Embolism

Frogfish

Gone to Redcafe
Member
I recently had pneumonia and a kidney infection....but they were just the aperitif. Main course came on 7th January when I started coughing up a lot of blood.

A blood clot in a major vein to my lungs closed down 5/6 of them (pulmonary embolism) with another clot in my right thigh. Docs reckon any step I took could have been my last and the only reason I'm still here is because all my high altitude hiking means I have above average lung capacity used to operating at reduced oxygen levels.

So 1/6 was just enough to keep me alive and stop me from blacking out (no coming back they said). My wife burst into tears and turned round to slap me for not coming in earlier. Unbelievably lucky to still be here.

Now I feel like a pin cushion and they've taken enough blood to open a blood bank. My arms look like a junkies! Tons of meds every day but they say I'm out of danger now. I've had tons of tests for my lungs and all my internal organs too.

I've been in hospital on Warfarin for the past 10 days but it hadn't increased my INR to an acceptable rate so the clots hadn't been dissolved.

Hence:

Catheter-directed treatments, such as percutaneous transcatheter treatment, are done by inserting a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin. And without any anesthesia as they want to know how I'm feeling all the time.

TBH the pain wasnt really anything. 2/10 at most. Mainly just pressure and with some weird, warm, feelings going on inside.

The tube is moved to the site of the clot and used to break up the clot with a hook or other tiny tool or to deliver clot-dissolving thrombolytic drugs directly.

That's the procedure I had yesterday. 15 mins prep. 90 mins op. 15 mins post. They removed all the clots and they increased the artery diameter that had narrowed due to arteriosclerosis. So it's back to near normal !

Just in recovery now. Should be going home in a few days. Really thankful to the great surgeon, doctors and nurses. To say nothing of the Ayis (aunties) giving me my daily bed baths :p

Moral : if you cough up any solid blood globules don't do as I did and put it down to recent coughing breaking a small vein. There are other symptoms but I didn't have them. Go and get yourself checked out Pronto!
 
Back
Top Bottom