By far the most common form of pulmonary embolism is a thromboembolism, which occurs when a blood clot, generally a venous thrombus, becomes dislodged from its site of formation an...
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Hi all. I'm new to the support group and wanted to introduce myself. I am a 23 year old going to graduate school and I was diagnosed with pulmonary embolism about 3 -4 weeks ago. I went to the ER and they found that I had large blood clot in each of my lungs. They were amazed how well I was doing considering how big they were (they never told how large, but I guess they were pretty big). But I had ran two marathons this past year and I guess that gave me some lung reserves and possibly saved me. But at some point I wasn't sure if I would live or die since the doctors couldn't figure out what the next step in treatment was. They were actually considering using a medication that was only used for severe cases but wanted to look at other options before pursuing it since I guess it could cause massive bleeding.
I was in the hospital for a little over week and most of the time I was on some kind of oxygen mask. I am currently out and it has been several weeks since this whole thing happened. It's been tough on recovery because I always hear how this is life threatening and it scares the reality into me (I guess its hard to believe to be in this situation at times). And I tend to be more cautious when I do things, like walking slow, and asking people to help me carry things (which is hard for me to do). I'm really glad that I found this site because I really felt alone on this whole event sometimes because it seems people really don't understand how serious this could be except for a select few. I don't know if any of you experienced this, but once I got out of the hospital, some friends and family assumed that everything was back to normal. Did anyone experience this because it was very frustrating for me to know that things weren't the same as before but they acted like it was. And how do you recover from this emotionally? Sorry for the long entry! I hope to be very active in this group!! =) Posted on 07/25/08, 07:07 pm |
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What you are experienceing is totally normal. The reason is you look OK on the outside, but your body and your mind have a lot of healing to do on the inside. My husband has not been very supportive to me through this wHole thing-he doesn't understand. People who have never experienced a lifethreatening illness don't understand the "Oh my God, I could be dead right now." You are a survivor-your time is not up yet. It will take several months for the pain and anxiety to go away or at least get to a tolerable level. Go at your own pace - listen to your body. Welcome to the Club, just sorry you had to join -it is sort of like a draft or something. 
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Hi there,
Ditto what flipperclot said. When I was up to visiting friends and colleagues, one of the first things I would hear was, "Well you LOOK great!" As if that was an indication of what was going on inside, and someone even said to me, "It's when you look sick that you are sick." Um ... not quite. I had a friend visit me in the ER who said the only reason he could tell that anything was wrong was because I obviously looked like I had been crying and just looked really scared. A few days later people told me that I looked "pinched" - like I was in pain (even though it had mostly gone by that point). I am reeeally lucky to have supportive friends, family and significant other, but even as kind and caring as they are, a lot of times I still feel like there is no way anyone knows what I am going through other than the people on this site. Take care and keep us posted about your recovery! How to recover emotionally? You're doing it! You will see lots of people on this site have different ways of coping, and some have sought professional help but the one common theme is that we all reach out to one another here and ask questions, offer support, share experiences ... it's helped me immeasurably!
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Thank you for your replies! It really helps to hear that I am not the only one that's going through this. Before I felt alone on this because no one around me has what I had. I hope you all are doing well and I very relieved to find a group of people willing to lend me some advice and help me get through recovery. =D
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