Woke up Sunday morning with what I assumed was gas from the veggie tray I’d consumed for dinner the night before or as the day went on, the start of a kidney infection/kidney stones (or according to Dr. Google maybe a gallbladder issue). Pain was pretty constant and it hurt BAD to take in a deep breath. Spent the day wishing it would go away. Dumb dumb dumb! Tried to go to bed last night but couldn’t get comfortable. Sat up to take an Aspirin and Advil (for my post op knee pain from my knee surgery almost 5 weeks ago - nights still suck) and could not lay back down. Agony when laid down, agony when I breathed deep, agony when I tried to lay on my side. Husband asked if I was ok and I had a little panic moment where I said nope and couldn’t calm down to catch my breath because it hurt so bad to breath and cry and try to settle myself down while not panicking (not so easy to do). Woke up all the kids who were home (3 youngest), and hit the road at midnight to head to the ER.
Back story - had an ultrasound on Thursday (around 60 hours before waking up Sunday morning feeling off) to check for a DVT because my leg that had the knee repair has had some swelling when it’s not being elevated. No DVT, but a small clot in a superficial vein on the outside of the calf. Had I not mentioned something about the pulled muscle feeling in the calf they wouldn’t have even looked their and found anything since it’s not a deep vein. Anyway, doc said not a DVT, keep taking the aspirin and not to worry, so my brain did not go there yesterday.
ER doc is a friend (love small towns), but her first thought was clot. Got a CT and yep. Thankfully not huge and not in one of the bigger vessels in the lung, but it’s still a pulmonary embolism. Got a shot to start the blood thinner journey and will be picking up a prescription this morning for the blood thinners I get to be on for the next 3 or so months.
Feeling pretty stupid for not thinking clot, but having just basically gotten the all clear for a DVT 2 days prior my brain just did not go there. ER doc thinks it could have already traveled out of the leg before the ultrasound, and was just making its way to the lung already so it wasn’t in the leg to find any more. Either way, it sucks.
As for the knee, the repair went really well and I’ve got another 8 days non weight bearing. Had a cartiform graft anchored into the femur to patch where I ripped the cartilage off. Range of motion is great, leg is just weak and apparently likes to form blood clots…. Boo.
I second the suggestion about getting a medi-alert bracelet.
You may get widely varying advice about how much risk to take while on the blood thinners or anticoagulants. I don’t think there is a single right answer. My two cents is to basically live your normal life, while being somewhat more careful and perhaps curtailing or altering the riskiest stuff.
Glad that there’s a clear diagnosis, and path forward. Best of luck on recovering and getting back.
I had an ER event one winter night. Woke up w/a pain in my back that I realized wasn’t a cramp and wasn’t going away. Turned out to be a kidney stone. Glad it wasn’t an overlooked tumor that had grown to the size of a grapefruit and impinging on my spine and organs (beware of self-diagnoses).
ER bill for a few hour stay (2am-8am) was $24K. It’s a good thing there’s insurance coverage for that.
Lots of similarities to my bilateral PE case in 2010.
Sudden onset of pain similar to a cracked rib that got steadily worse over the course of a day, until it got to a point in the evening where I told my wife I needed to get to the ER. Hours of tests, consensus seemed to be gall bladder (because the pain got worse after eating) until someone in Australia - which apparently is where US charts get sent to be read in our nighttime hours - luckily suggested it might be a PE.
Hematologist told me if I’d gone home that night with a gall bladder treatment protocol I probably wouldn’t have woken up the next day. Couple of days in the hospital under observation until the meds broke down the clot. No sources of a clot found, nor any contributing risk factors, but 6 months of rat poison, dialed-back other forum training with no MTBing or surfing, and as mentioned above, a RoadID noting use of said rat poison.
I was on self administered heparin for a week or so, 4 injections a day then warfarin for a year
I did get a medi wrist band for the time I was on warfarin in case of an accident and being unable to tell first responders.
I can’t believe how bad it hurts. It’s crazy. I got some good drugs for the next couple of days but dang, as soon as it starts to wear off it’s right back to being stabbed with every breath. And it’s only on one side. I can’t imagine bilateral! 😱
I second the suggestion about getting a medi-alert bracelet.
You may get widely varying advice about how much risk to take while on the blood thinners or anticoagulants. I don’t think there is a single right answer. My two cents is to basically live your normal life, while being somewhat more careful and perhaps curtailing or altering the riskiest stuff.
Due to recovering from knee surgery my next few months shouldn’t involve too much crazy. I’ll be happy to be able to walk my dog a month from now (she’s having knee surgery soon too). It’s the risky stuff that got me into this mess🤣🤣
Wow, good thing you finally got yourself to the ER!
What was the knee surgery? Was it in the same place?
I felt pretty dumb for making everyone go (can’t drive yet), but boy am I glad we went.
I ripped a good size chunk of chondral cartilage off my femur snowboarding in Feb. The fix was a cartiform graft anchored into the femur and some microfractures to promote healing, so non weight bearing for 6 weeks (it will be 5 weeks tomorrow so almost done NWB), then a couple of weeks slowly adding weight. Surgery was in the same town, just a surgery center vs the hospital.
Thank you all for the kind words of advice and caring. It really means a lot! The Lavender Room peeps are the bestâ¤ï¸
The doctor more than once emphasized how glad she was that I came in when I did and never once gave me shit for not coming in sooner (if I knew then what I know now sort of thing).
I already ordered the medic alert bracelet (they make some super cute ones now)! And will be extending the rest and relaxation phase of recovery by a few extra weeks.
I’m glad you’re toward the end of the non weight bearing. What do things look like after that? Big knee brace thingie?
Please keep us updated. I really really mean that. And I’m probably going to reply to the thread asking how you are if you don’t volunteer updates.
Thank you thank you thank you!
No brace! Woohoo! I’ve had no restrictions on range of motion (no brace, no cast), so I’ve been trying to bend and straighten since 2 days post op and am almost normal there (but it is slow moving and very sore🤪). The leg is just super weak. At PT today she said I’ll start at a toe touch and over 2-3 weeks adding more pressure until I’m done with the crutches. Then to get the leg stronger. I can’t kneel on it for 4 months, and no clue about any jogging, probably somewhere around 6 months). Snowboarding again in November!
My doggy needs both her CCL’s fixed…. She was supposed to get one done tomorrow but the vet who fixes doggy knees can’t get here from his house (a bridge is out with ridiculous detours), so it’s been pushed back probably until June. She’ll be a great rehab partner since we’ll both be hobbling along trying to recover our knees!🤣🤣
Not stupid. But we should all listen to our bodies, particularly us athletes who should be pretty good at knowing what’s normal pain, and what’s not.
I made this mistake with what turned out to be a punctured lung. Was probably walking around with it for nearly 48 hours, which isn’t great. Being an athlete compensated for the less efficient blood oxygenation…was never out of breath.
Why would you feel dumb not being able to diagnose yourself with a clot. Sounds like you had a very good ER doc. When I worked in the ER and the hospital one of the diagnosis that people didn’t think of often enough was a pulmonary embolism. It is likely something I missed a few times.
Having D-dimers (a blood test that can alert you to higher likelihood of a blood clot) is a help from the old days.
I had a guy tragically die of a blood clot after and ankle fracture repair in his late 30s. He was quite overweight but tragic nontheless.
