Pulmonary Embolism is serious and can be detected with knowledge of symptoms

As an athlete for over 30 years, and avid cyclist at 60+ years old, I would never have thought bloood clots were a concern. Unfortunatley, I kne nothing about them or the seriouos nature if they progress into Pulomary Embolism, (clots that travel from the lower legs and eventually get lodged in the lungs) or for some can the clots can proceed to the brain and cause a stroke. 

My exprience happened slowly towards the end of Covid going into early 2021. For few weeks where I felt a pinch in my left calf muscle at first. Being an avid cyclist I assumed it was a slight muscle pull from riding or just a calf pull fom stairs or something. I ignored it and figured it would go away. After a few weeks I began to expereince pains in my lateral upper rib cage which I again laid off to my gym workouts and soreness as an older athlete. Finally in the last 1-2 weeks I began to expereince anxiety and breathing issues upon waking in the morning. I though maybe I had Covid or something and would recover. 

Then one morning around 9-10 AM, I realized it was getting worse, so I called my wife to take to the ER which was 30 minutes away as I am a Veteran in San Diego County and have to go to the La Jolla VA for serious issues. I remember as I got out of the car to go in I was feeling slightly better and wondered if I should go back home. Thank God I did not. 20 minutes later I was in ER with a nurse placing a port in my left arm for testing and precaution. Right then I said I felt lightheaded, and passed out from a Cardiac Arrest. Thankfully, as I was in the ER when it happened, there were ER doctors immediately avaialble and did CPR on me with an injection of something to jolt my body. They said my heart rate went under 30 beats and my blood pressure dropped to dangerous levels. When I fnally came to under the RR lights on a stretecher they advised me of what happened and admitted me to ICU for 3 days. It took them the better part of the first day to identify the blood clots and the large clots that had formed at the entrance to my lungs stooping my heart. I spend 3 days in ICU with 3-4 Dr.s or nurses around me 7/24 with injections of blood thinners. Finally I was sent now on blood thinners indefinitely as prevention. 

This is the part that get's difficult to dea with. After that life threatening event from an unknown cause of clotting, every morning for over a year I would wake up with extreme anxiety, residual rib cage pains, fear of death, fear of being alone at any time. Causing stress on my wife and fear formy life. As an avid cyclist, I had spent 25 years riding long rides of 5-6 hours often alone in the mountains east of No. San Diege Cnty enjoying my solitude. After this event, if I got more than 15 minutes away from home or a medical facility I would begin to panic and have fears of dying ouot alone by myself. This went on for over a year. The troubling part of all this, is that no doctors, nurses, or care givers reached out to me for PTSD counseling that I so badly needed. I kept tellng them I needed some sort of follwup counseling. It took almost a year for the VA to set my wife and I up for couples thearapy to deal with the stress. Later I requested personal PTSD counseling and recieved a series of zoom call sessions where I remember crying many times describing the orderal and fears that I had expereinced. The good news is after almost 3 years, I would say I have recovered probably 80-90% from the bad days. I still wake mornings with anxiety, and periodic pains in my latera reib cage areas that tend to go away by mid morning with movement and regular excercise. 

For reference, there are many cebrities and public figures like Hillary Clinto, that have had blood clots like Hilary Clinton which lead to her episode on stage during the 2016 election campaign, and some have developed to PE like Al Roker, and many celebrities over the years like Jimmy Suart and others that have died from it. 

The point of all this is to recommend people over age 50, male or female, become familiar with the symptoms and take action if they recognize any of them. This is a deadly issue, 30% of persons experiencing Pulomary Embolism like I did do not survive. Thank God I did.

If you know anyone who has symptoms or has had the experience reach out to them for support. The surely need it. If ayone has questions for me about my expereince, medication, recurrance, limiations, etc. feel free to ask me here. One the things that helped me tremendoulsy was a FaceBook group for those with blood clots. Knowing there experiences helped me navigate the fears. 

-Dave