Two weeks later I started feeling some pain in my left calf. I thought I had just overdone it that day, so I rested. But the pain continued to worsen over the next few days, so I made an appt. with my OBGYN. She took a look at my leg, said it was just a sprain, and i'd be fine. I continued on for weeks in that pain, taking the 800mg of ibprofen she had told me to take. I thought it was very strange how my leg hurt so badly, although mostly all I had done those past few weeks were rest, try to recover, and breastfeed Rachel.
On July 22, Arnold and I dropped off all 3 kids with his parents to go to dinner and do a little shopping for Caleb's upcoming birthday. While we were sitting in the parking lot, I noticed I had some chest pains. I told Arnold and he said it was probably just heartburn from the Wendy's we just ate. I said ok and went onto shopping, but still felt strange. We went to pick up the kids and I was sitting on the couch feeding Rachel a bottle before we went home. All of a sudden the chest pains came on strong, I felt sweaty, tingly, and not at all "right." I told Arnold to call 911. He hesitated, but did it. The paramedics came out to my inlaw's house checked me all over and said I looked fine. They said I was probably having a panic attack.
Something inside me was STILL bothering me, telling me to check this pain out. So I insisted Arnold take me to the ER himself. His mom watched the kids, and his dad, my mom, and brother all met us at the hospital. The drs. did test upon test on me, EKG, bloodwork, Xray, all kind of things. They also said I just fine. Right before leaving though, the dr said he wanted to run just one more test to check something. They took me back to get a CT scan and then we waited. I was getting dressed and fully ready to walk out the door when a dr rushed back in and said get in this gown! Get into bed! We need to get you admitted! Arnold and I were both shocked, we were trying to process what was going on. The dr said the CT scan showed that my lungs were covered with bloodclots. It turned out the pain in my left leg had been a bloodclot, and going weeks without treating it had caused it to break apart, and little bloodclots spread through my body to my lungs. The dr said I was incredibly lucky none had gone to my heart, brain, or blocked off my airway. He said most people die from pulmonary embolisms (technical term.) And he said that age must have been on my side (I was in my early 20s still.)
So there was a whirwind of the dr getting my hooked up to an IV, giving me morphine for the chest pains and to calm me down, and they pushed me on a stretcher to the elevator, and we went up to the CCU. On the ride up the elevator the dr was asking me all sorts of questions like if I had a living will and what should they do if my heart stopped? The ONLY thing keeping me from panic at that moment was the morphine. I'll be honest, I felt pretty "high" at that moment. They got me admitted into a room in the CCU, with open doors, facing the nurses desk so they could keep an eye on me throughout the night. They said STRICT bed rest, so the bloodclots couldn't move around. I had to use a bedpan because I couldn't get up to go to the bathroom. They hooked me up to an IV of Heparin (blood thinners) to protect me, and said I would be there for quite a while.
I ended up spending 8 days total at Frye Hospital, in the heart tower. The doctors took great care of me and I am grateful. I spent most of the week pretty sedated and didn't do much, but I do remember a few things. I remember not being able to shower for that entire week, I was given sponge baths. By a MALE nurse! I would have been so humiliated, but again, I was on some very good drugs ;) I remember children and babies weren't allowed in the ICU, but they made an exception for Arnold to bring Rachel in to see me, for a few minutes, since she was only 4 weeks old at the time and I missed her so much. I remember my mom standing by my bedside holding my hand, and begging me not to die. I remember my dad coming to visit me and brought me a M&M mcflurry. He's a man of little words, but that gesture meant the world to me. He used to bring me those when I was in highschool and he picked me up from football games. And most of all I remember how great Arnold was-- he used up all his vacation time trying to take care of our 3 kids-- who were only 4 weeks, almost 2 and almost 3 at the time. The rest of the time my parents watched the kids so Arnold could work. He'd do a full day with the kids, and a full night of work, just so we could make it financially. I owe him so much for how amazing he was during that time. It was so incredibly hard.
ANYWAY! Eventually they let me out of the hospital, 8 days later. They said I seemed healthy enough to go home, and the clots seemed to have disolved quite a bit. They said Arnold had to continue giving me heparin shots in my hip every night, for a few weeks. Then I had to take coumadin (an oral blood thinner) for a year after that. I ended up getting bloodwork done soon after that, to see if I had the gene that made me more likely to get bloodclots, but the test came back negative. Turns out the bloodclot in my leg was a freak thing. Well not really, since bloodclots are common after surgery, and I did spend a lot of time sitting feeding Rachel. But I know lots of people who had multiple c-sections with NO complications at all, and I was very young and pretty healthy.. so I guess I was just lucky ;)
So my reason for writing this, 10 years later is to say thank you to so many people. Thank you to the drs and nurses who took good care of me. And to my husband who worked so hard to make sure everything was ok. To our parents for helping watch our kids. For everyone who prayed for me. I could have so easily died from those clots, and the fact that I didn't has shown me that God wasn't ready for me to go yet! I am meant to be here for my hubby and kids, and I don't know what all I'm meant to do in this life but I'm trying to figure it out!!
I also want to tell all my girl friends to LISTEN TO YOUR BODY! I knew all along something didn't seem right at all, but I let everyone convince me I was fine. I found out later that my OBGYN should have given me a leg ultrasound that day! And if she'd caught the clot, it could have saved me the 8-day hospital stay, thousands of dollars, and a near-death experience. For the longest time I was so, so bitter about that dr not caring about my health. I have since changed OBGYNs and urge all my friends to be proactive in your health and make sure your dr truly cares!
This was the day the nurses "snuck" Rachel in my CCU room to see me, and let me give her a bottle. I am forever grateful for their kindness. Looks like a typical after birth photo, but no, it was me in a tiny CCU room, weak, pale, and pretty much out of it.
This is what my hip looked like while Arnold was giving me bloodthinner shots every night after I came home. He said he HATED having to stick me (poor thing) but he really did a good job ;)
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