Everything felt normal, but I was left gasping after walking up a hill carrying a bucket of water. Something was wrong. I was subtly winded after golfing and climbing stairs, but I paid no attention. I thought it could be allergies. The next day, walking up that same hill with the bucket, I was out of breath again.
At the doctor’s office, an oximeter showed my blood oxygen saturation number drop to 86 from a normal 95-100 during a short walk down the hall. I still felt fine. A familiar story follows: A trip to the ER, a positive D-dimer blood test, a CT scan, two days in the hospital on a heparin IV, a week of enoxaparin injections, and put on an anticoagulant (blood thinner) indefinitely.
A CT lung scan will show circles, which are the cross sections of arteries lit by the radiation reacting with an injected contrasting dye. If an artery is partially blocked, you’ll see a partial circle. My lung scan was mostly dark with just a few circles and sickle shapes, indicating many fully and partially clogged arteries.
The doctor said the clotting in both lungs was extensive and feared a subsequent event could be a saddle embolism, which occurs when a large blood clot gets stuck in the main pulmonary artery. An ultrasound of my legs showed no sign of a clot, and I never had any obvious leg or arm pain. I had taken a six-hour flight two weeks earlier, so that may have been when a clot formed. I was tested for genetic clotting disorders, which came back negative. Doctors have not been able to determine what caused my blood clots so I am considered “unprovoked.”
Without my water bucket moment, I may not have acted, which would have given the condition time to do organ damage. So many stories here emphasize listening to your body, and I can’t agree more. Time is of the essence, and the symptoms may be subtle.
Resources
Glossary of Blood Clot and Clotting Disorder Terms
Signs and Symptoms of Blood Clots
New Patient Resource Guide
