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I was hesitant to join this conversation, but my own story might be interesting....
Some years ago, I suffered a foot injury, and the hospital made a "back plane splint" which imobilised my foot and ankle. I duly rested it (eg lay in bed) for 48 hours.
Several days (weeks?) later, I experienced chest pains while sitting at a desk. Initially they went away when I walked around, but after a few days of this, walking around no longer worked.
As my workplace was across the road from a major hospital, I walked into ER and told them I had chest pains. All hell broke loose, and I was soon in bed, receiving oxygen, and wired up to feed an ECG machine. Next thing, this guy turns up, calling out "Where is the guy with DVT?"
I looked around, and was astonished to see him (a Cardiologist) pointed at MY bed! Holy crap!
After a few minutes, they got me to step into a people-mover, for tests at another hospital. The original doctor jumps in too (I'm thinking he has other stuff to do at the other hospital). Then I spot the felt pen writing on the little sack he was bringing.... d e f r i b u l a t or. WTF?????
It suddenly dawned on me that this was serious,. so I asked what was happewning. He told me I was getting a nuclear chest scan at the bigger hospital...
After the scan, I looked at the image on a huge colour monitor, and remarked that it looked really healthy, with all the brilliant colours. The doctor turned round and calmly said "Not really, all the bright red bits are clots in your lungs, takling up 25% of you lung area?"
He then told me about three ways you can die from blood clots:-
* A clot can pass through into your brain
* Your heart can fail due to working too hard with restricted blood flow
* If enough of your lungs is filled with clots, you sort of "drown" as there is not enough lung area to purify your blood.
(PS My own GP later cheered me up no end by telling me that they missed a fourth method of dying.
Called a "saddle", this is where a clot sits at the top of the artery just above the heart, and prevents flow to the heart. In this case you turn purple and drop dead. Saddles are only discovered during the autopsy...)
Anyway (obviously) I survived this drama via extensive use of blood thinners to dissolve the clots.
By sheer coioncidence, other heart issues have since resulted in my permanently using blood thinners, which just means I have to be careful not to cut myself... I am eternally grateful for the Miragedrive on my TI to keep the blood pumping through my body!
_________________
Tony Stott
2012 Tandem Island "SIC EM" with Hobie spinnaker
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