The day before New Year’s Eve of 2017, I was experiencing a fast heart rate and shortness of breath. My Apple Watch was going crazy saying my resting heart rate was 180 and above. I ignored it, thinking it was broken.
I went to bed and woke up the next morning with shortness of breath, a little chest pain, clammy hands, and lightheadedness. My parents took me to the clinic thinking I had asthma or bronchitis.
After doing a CT scan, three doctors came running into my room and hooked me up to blood thinners, telling me I had two large pulmonary emboli in each of my lungs and an ambulance was on the way to take me to the ICU.
They said I was hours if not minutes away from having a stroke. I was in the ICU for three days and in the general hospital for eight days.
The estrogen-based birth control I had been taking is believed to have contributed to my blood clots.
I ended up going to the University of Iowa for college. I had the best care at the UI Hospital’s hematology and cancer center in the four years that I was there.
My heart rate still races from time to time especially with working out. I am still talking to hematologists and cardiologists to determine how to get back to normal.
I am now 23 and living my best life and advocating as much as I can!
Resources
Women and Blood Clots
Signs and Symptoms
What is a PE?
