Your Body Speaks. Listen.
In late October 2020, I was 8 weeks past a bout of COVID — but short of breath with a hard cough that did not respond to medication.
Two Visits. No Answers.
Visit 1 to urgent care in early November showed high BP and a hard cough — but nothing on x-ray.
Visit 2, 14 days later, was to my PCP.
Now I was high BP, hard cough, slightly hypoxic at 94%, fast heart rate — and I told my doctor I could barely make it from the couch to the kitchen.
I was told it was just recovery from COVID and prescribed an inhaler.
It helped somewhat.
End of appointment.
I trusted her expertise and since she seemed to take it nonchalantly, so did I.
Mistake.
What Should Have Happened
It was an immediate correlation that my symptoms were due to being post-COVID — despite high BP and lower O2.
My heart was listened to. No further tests. Just a prescription.
Had a D-Dimer been done, it would have raised alarms.
Christmas
Fast forward to Christmas.
I couldn’t get off the couch. Could barely stay awake. All the same symptoms.
I was exhausted.
My mom had an O2 sensor and we checked.
I was at 88%.
We rushed to the ER.
The Diagnosis
I had bilateral pulmonary embolisms with right heart strain.
The right side was 100% clotted. The left was 50%.
My D-Dimer was through the roof. My BNP was just shy of 700.
The ER doctor was in disbelief I was still awake and holding my own.
I was started on IV heparin, magnesium, and high flow oxygen.
The EKOS Machine
I had a thrombectomy 2 days later and spent 24 hours in the ICU on the EKOS machine — a catheter-based treatment that delivers clot-dissolving medicine directly to the clot, using ultrasound energy to help the medicine work more effectively.
Angels had me is all I can say.
COVID is what they attribute it to.
What I Learned About Advocacy
Speaking up means either saying it — or trusting your gut when things still seem “off.”
I let my doctor’s competency override my nagging feeling. Never again.
After this, I invested in a new physician. Behavior never lies and the trust was broken.
I pay attention to appointments now, ask questions, and don’t care if a doctor is annoyed.
It’s my life. And that is now protected with a new self love.
Life After
I am now cautious with respiratory illness and strains of COVID.
If I get COVID a third time, I’ve been told I will be a blood thinner “lifer.”
Now — 2021 and indefinitely — it means paying attention to all O2 and BP readings, especially if sedentary.
It means wearing compression stockings on flights or long desk hours.
Not obsessing. Just understanding.
If I’m short of breath, I check my O2 and heart rate.
And being my own first line of defense versus putting all that trust in others.
I watch the monthly NBCA talks — the one on HRT helped me tremendously.
No known clotting issues in my family. I may look into testing this year for myself.
What I Want Others to Know
Trust your intuition.
If gaslit, move on — regardless of how long you’ve been with the practice.
Behavior never lies and they’ve shown in action that your concerns weren’t important.
Your body speaks.
Listen.
