Sorry I see this before posting separately! I wonder about what exactly happened...

The report I read on his passing was that it was due to a blood clot to the lung I believe it said. Kind of scary to see that in print.

I guess that should make those of us still here feel fortunate.

There is a famous opera singer that was treated for a blood clot in the lungs within the past couple of weeks as well. I was going to post the link to the article in here, but alas, I've been really lazy lately!

Had to pop in and say hi. I'm 1 year, 8 months out, but things like this still throw me for a loop. Had a bit of a panic attack in the bathroom when I heard it on the radio, but managed to talk myself down and go about my day. So sad :(

That's why we count ourselves lucky and carry on.

The opera singer was Placido Domingo one of the "Three Tenors". Fortunately he didn't die but I do wonder how badly it will affect his voice, even though he doesn't sing as much as he used to.

I didn't know that.

Here's the story on Placido Domingo. I'm surprised they think he'll be back to full strength in four weeks. As much of a workout as his lungs get, I'm not sure if he'll bounce back faster or slower than the average PE patient.

http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/09/showbiz/placido-domingo-hospitalized

It does say his exact return is unknown. But who knows. He may bounce back quicker, like many athletes seem to be able to do especially if he's got a team that can help him with regaining stamina, breathing, control, etc. It'll be interesting to see how he manages. When your livelihood is contingent on performance, that may be an added incentive to just get down to it.

I do imagine his lungs likely being in good condition will help in his recovery, I do wonder if he'll have any change in his voice, though. Obviously he has a lot more resources and incentive to get well quickly, I just know that the tone of my singing voice has changed since I got PE. In terms of my lung health, I have much better than expected capacity considering what happened, probably in part because of singing and playing wind instruments, so I would imagine he'd experience the same. If he had a relatively minor episode of PE, then I could see him being able to recover more quickly, yet at the same time, I think doctors don't always have much idea the toll PE takes or have too clear an idea how recovery will go, like we've talked about before, to them it's just a matter of making sure we don't die and getting on blood thinners. And if they don't know, we as patients don't have any idea until we're actually into the recovery how hard it can be. So I am interested to see if things will go as well for him as they were saying, and I really hope they do.

Yeah, you sure do start adjusting expectations as you go through your recovery. The guy is 72 so I'm sure his tone has changed over the years due to aging as well.

I read only today about a man who died in PE since the ambulance turned before picking him up. They hospital was full and they decided he was not so sick after all, so they left him at home. A few hours later he called again and this time he died in the ambulance. These kinds of news scares me sooooo much, just thinking how I went to the ER with my PE not thinking it was anything but just checking it out, had anybody told me then it was probably nothing I would have turned and went home immediately....

I too saw that Dennis Farina had passed away from PE.

I consider myself very lucky, because I have COPD & CHF and both present with symptoms of SOB. I went to the ER with SOB and they diagnosed me wit PE.

They couldn't do a CT scan because my renal blood tests were elevated, so they did another test (can't remember the name of the test. I think it was a lung scan, but it's not as accurate as a CT scan). I have been on Xarelto since.

However, my Pulmonolgist didn't think I had PE. I'll know for sure when I have a CT scan if my renal numbers are OK.

From my experience, having strong lungs will only help so much. I have been an athlete for most of my 50-years and still have breathing issues over 3-years after my double embolisms. Stairs are my enemy while I can do the treadmill and bike at the gym 4-5 times a week as well as two 40-minute hikes in the hills in our neighborhood. Some days I have minor breathing issues while other days I have to stop and catch my breath for several minutes which usually has me restructuring my workout or other physical activity. The other day I felt like I was going to pass out after doing some minimal cardio. My doctors have more or less given up trying to assess my condition. They thought that the clots would have disolved 12-18 months after they were discovered but they are firmly with me and most likely will be there for the rest of my life. I have learned to adjust my physical activity and friends and family know not to push me when the breathing issues get worse.