Pulmonary Embolism Support Group
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 and embolizes to the arterial blood supply of one of the lungs. Symptoms may include difficulty breathing, pain during breathing, and more rarely circulatory instability and death.
The ER doc explained the tPA risks to me and I had to sign a consent to have tPA performed. I don't remember specifics, but I was removed from heparin in the ER for a while and then administered tPA and then monitored for probably for an hour or so for any bleeding while still in the ER. At some point after that I was put back on heparin, but I seem to recall this all happened, from start to finish, in a few hours until I was moved to the ICU. They continued to monitor me for bleeding closely once in the ICU for the rest of that day.
I don't know how old your mom is or if she has other health issues,but age and other medical issues may have increased her risk of bleeding. Also, if she's on heparin or warfarin now, so many days after the tPA, perhaps that's part of the reason for the bleeding?
Hope everything is ok and that her doc can give you some answers.
I hope she's on the road to recovery now, though it may be long.
thans j's for asking!