You Have A Blood Clot

Janurary 21, 2020

I made an appointment for mid-morning at the urgent care that was by my parent’s house. They take me back and ask me the usual questions ” What medications are you”, ” What is your medical history “, ” How long has the problem been occurring”. I tell them that I am on the Nuvaring birth control. I have been having the problem for almost a month now and have started limping. I workout 5 days a week so I thought it might be a pulled muscle, but it has been cramping. The doctor tells me not to worry but he first needs to rule out the worst case scenarios. He scheduled an immediate ultrasound on my leg at an outpatient center that was up the road. I definitely was not worried. Just thought it was a routine check.

I drive up there. Get all checked in and they take me back. I walk into this room that is a long white rectangle with dim light . On the right is a lot of grey cabinets. On the left there is a chair and refrigerator. At the very end of the room was the bed and ultrasound equipment.

The tech leaves the room for a second because I had to take off my pants. She starts the exam on my leg and the ultrasound screen is turned away from me. There is small talk back and forth, but doesn’t indicate that anything is wrong. She finishes the exam and leaves the room so I can put back on my pants. When she comes back this was the interaction we shared:

Tech: ” Are you alone”

Me: (confused answering) ” Yes”

Tech: ” Would you like to sit down”

Me: “No” * doesn’t sit down*

Tech: ” I found a blood clot in your right calf and I can’t let you leave. The doctor is going call you with the instruction on what do next”

Instantly, my eyes well up while the tech is in mid-sentence. All of sudden, I was being comforted by a total stranger while feeling of ” I am alone” started flooding in. She waits with me as I wait for the doctor to call. The doctor calls and says that this type of diagnosis is outside of his scope of care and that I should go to the ER. He calls ahead and lets them know I am coming.

The outpatient center is right next to the ER. I drive over there and my parents meet me there. They take me back and put me in the fast track section. I was there for maybe 30 minutes. They didn’t run any additional test. They prescribed Eliquis and to follow up with my primary care physician. The official diagnosis was Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). This is where a blood clot occurs in a deep vein. I took the first dosage at the hospital and then was discharged. They believe the blood clot was caused because of my birth control. My dad drove me to the pharmacy in my car. They didn’t the have the supply to fill the prescription. My dad started to call around to the different pharmacies to get the medication. I was emotionally ready to go home, but finally we were able to get the medication filled after multiple calls later.

Janurary 22, 20201

It’s the next day, I wake on my left side and take a deep breath. It felt like a faint sharp pain in the upper back. It was so faint that I wasn’t sure it was there. However, my dad suggested that we go back to ER to get my lungs checked out. Both of my parents went.

At the check -in desk, I said ” Hi. I was in here yesterday and got diagnosis with a DVT. This morning, I woke up a faint sharp pain in my lungs and wanted to get it checked out”. I don’t think I waited more than 2 minutes to be brought back. They took me back to area that was a square and had 4 rooms divided by curtains. I knew this visit was going to be different. Mainly because I didn’t get put in the fast track lane and they actually started an IV.

They decided to run a CT scan on me. First, they had to draw a sample of blood to see how it would react to the contrast. From a non-medical understanding, contrast is put in your body and the doctor can follow the contrast as it goes through the body. It can highlight organs, blood vessels and bones. When it goes through your body, it feels warm and you peed your pants.

Once I returned back to my room, it took over an hour to get the results. I knew they found something on the CT scan without them ever saying anything because they continued to run tests like an EKG. While waiting for the official results, a man in room 2 had swollen balls and had to lean back because he couldn’t sit normal. Definitely, no privacy despite the curtains.

Once all the test came back the doctor came in and diagnosed me with a pulmonary embolism (PE) in both lungs. I had three different locations that had blood clots- my right calf, right and left lung. They believe the blood clot that was in my right calf broke off and traveled all the ways up to lungs. The reason that they run the EKG was to check if the clot had move to my heart and if I was experiencing blockage there. The good news there was no blockage in my heart so the course of treatment was the same that they prescribed the day before. The doctor was kind and tried to keep a positive attitude. Before that day, I have never heard of this diagnosis in my life. My reaction to the news was very emotionless compared to the day before. Maybe the EKG test tipped me off or still in shock from the day before. The one feeling that was certain was frustration and anger. I had literally was in the same ER room less than 24 hours before and there was no further investigation if my blood clot had broken off and gone to another part of my body. I had these symptoms for almost a month. Not a single question. This is one example of how the insurance companies runs how medical care is dictated. Looking back there are two instances now that I know I have PE that I recognized some of the symptoms

1. When I was flying home from North Carolina on January 20th, I remember feeling like I had a rapid heart beat, but I thought I was nervous to be on a plane.
2. That same day, I remember coming back from the bathroom and climbing into my bed and thinking ” why I am out of breath” and told myself that it was dumb thought. Nope. My gut was right.

The next step was follow up with the vascular doctor that they referred me to.

Facts about Blood Clots according to the CDC:

• 100,000 Americans die each year of DVT/PE
• 10-30% of people will die within one month of diagnosis
• 1 and 4 people die without warning
• Blood Clots cost our nation up to $10 billion each year
• Treatment can be as much as 15K to 20K per person
• 3 in 10 who have a blood clot will have another episode within 10 years
• DVT and PE are also know as VTE ( venous thromboembolism)