In January 2015, I was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) and started estrogen-based birth control. Two months later, I married an active duty Marine and moved from Georgia to Virginia. Around that time, I started getting severe charley horse pains in my right leg that caused me to cry. I thought maybe I was just dehydrated.
About a month later, I started a new job with a round-trip commute of 2.5 hours. I started noticing that I had a hard time breathing just getting up from my seat at work, walking a few feet, getting in my car or walking up the stairs.
Then came the pain behind my knee. I thought I had pulled a muscle and treated it as such. It soon went away. The chest pain and shortness of breath continued for another month. One night, I went to the ER because I felt like I was having a heart attack. I was diagnosed as having severe low iron and sent home.
A week later, the knee pain came back and my leg got extremely huge. I was at work when I stood up and felt as though I was going to pass out, but I am stubborn and just slowly walked it off, went home and went to bed.
The turning point was when I was limping around at work one day and my coworker, Kathy, asked to see my leg. I showed her and told her I had not been working out and my leg just swelled up and I had pain so bad that I was trying not to cry at work. She offered to take me to the ER and I kept saying no. She drove me to my car since we work at a place with a huge parking lot and the whole time I was trying not to cry from the pain.
As soon as I got to my car and I waved to my coworker that I was okay, I broke down gripping the steering wheel, crying and screaming in pain. Thinking I had an hour drive home and was in such pain, I called my husband in tears and he told me to go to the ER.
The hospital admissions person asked me what was wrong and I broke down and told her everything. She said she was worried I had a blood clot and that is when everything went crazy.
A CT scan showed I had blood clots in both my lungs (pulmonary embolism, or PE) and a huge clot in my right leg (deep vein thrombosis). I had no idea what a PE or a DVT was. Everyone in the ER calmed me down and explained that I am extremely lucky, because one of the clots was very close to my heart. I was admitted to the hospital for five days. Once I was able to leave, I had strict instructions. I had crutches because my leg was so swollen and painful. I was put on warfarin, which I continue to take.
It has only been three months and everything is still so new to me, like being on blood thinners. I also have to take a test to see if I have a blood disorder. They are still trying to figure out what caused my clots. They say I was not on birth control long enough for it to cause all the blood clots.
I am still trying to get healthy and figure out what this all means and how it will affect the rest of my life.
Resources
Living Your Best Life on Blood Thinners
Signs and Symptoms of Blood Clots
How is a DVT Diagnosed?
