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.
Let me see if I can make this short....Probably not....LOL
May 19, 2011 had a hernia re-repaired, Umbilical. I had it repaired 15 years ago, the mesh broke loose.
Hurt may back several years ago. Doing any exercise to strengthen my back would create an even larger goose egg around my belly button. Picture the movie Alien, when a creature was about to "pop out" That was my belly. So I needed the repair to make my back better.
Was supposed to be simple... not! The mesh entangled around my Small bowel. The repair turned into a small bowel resection.
Oh Dam, what a thing to wake up to after anesthesia.
Lost only 2" of Sm bowel.
Well while recovering from that, around 3 weeks into recovery, to get some exercise, wife & I went to the zoo to walk around. Was feeling really good. That evening started to have some wicked right sided chest pain that really, really hurt, was worse when I breathed in. I self medicated with pain killers to get threw. I saw my surgeon 4 days later. He sent me straight to the ER. Was admitted 6/14/11 with "Multiple embolism's" on the lower RT lung, with a slight Plural effusion. Still don't know how many.
That put me in the Hosp. for close to a week. The pain was soo bad, the only thing that would touch it was a Morphine pump. IT took two days to figure that out! Finally some sleep. Went home on 45Mg of time released morphine every eight hours. Took two weeks before I could lay flat on my back, in bed. Up to that point was in a chair that reclined. Took 2-3 weeks to ween myself off of the morphine.
I believe that My CPAP machine for sleep apnea helped me a great deal. It kept my lungs inflated enough to help prevent Pneumonia. The deep breathing hurt for three weeks.
So, here it is 8 weeks to the day after major surgery. I am feeling much better. Still get a little short of breath after a walk of a couple of blocks. Can't tell if it's this heat wave or me.
I can do little easy projects around the house.
Prior to Surgery, I was able to do 4-5 flight of stairs with out a problem.
My stamina has dropped so much, I lost 15 pounds, I also feel like I lost some muscle. Not to be gross, but My Tush is flabbier the usual, My Butt feels like a bowel of jello.
On top of that. Two weeks ago, I get a virus that turned everything to water Out the other end.... :( . Down for another week. Missed a Family wedding
I had a repeat Cat Scan done last Friday,
I see the doctor Today. (7/19/11)
We'll discuss when I can go back to work. I'm thinking August first, That'll give me, ~ 2-weeks to build up my Stamina.
Is that too soon?
I have 10-12 weeks that my position at work is safe.
After that, they post it for someone else to fill. I will still have a job If I wait to long, I wont have that position.
I do alot of driving, with a few hours of one after another Patients in a Rehab/nursing home can be up to 30 to 40 patients in two to three hours. I am a phlebotomist. So I understand totally what it's like to be on both side of the bed.
That's enough for now.
So glad I found this site. the depression was starting to get to me. Reading others situation helped me to feel "normal".
Thank you!
May 19, 2011 had a hernia re-repaired, Umbilical. I had it repaired 15 years ago, the mesh broke loose.
Hurt may back several years ago. Doing any exercise to strengthen my back would create an even larger goose egg around my belly button. Picture the movie Alien, when a creature was about to "pop out" That was my belly. So I needed the repair to make my back better.
Was supposed to be simple... not! The mesh entangled around my Small bowel. The repair turned into a small bowel resection.
Oh Dam, what a thing to wake up to after anesthesia.
Lost only 2" of Sm bowel.
Well while recovering from that, around 3 weeks into recovery, to get some exercise, wife & I went to the zoo to walk around. Was feeling really good. That evening started to have some wicked right sided chest pain that really, really hurt, was worse when I breathed in. I self medicated with pain killers to get threw. I saw my surgeon 4 days later. He sent me straight to the ER. Was admitted 6/14/11 with "Multiple embolism's" on the lower RT lung, with a slight Plural effusion. Still don't know how many.
That put me in the Hosp. for close to a week. The pain was soo bad, the only thing that would touch it was a Morphine pump. IT took two days to figure that out! Finally some sleep. Went home on 45Mg of time released morphine every eight hours. Took two weeks before I could lay flat on my back, in bed. Up to that point was in a chair that reclined. Took 2-3 weeks to ween myself off of the morphine.
I believe that My CPAP machine for sleep apnea helped me a great deal. It kept my lungs inflated enough to help prevent Pneumonia. The deep breathing hurt for three weeks.
So, here it is 8 weeks to the day after major surgery. I am feeling much better. Still get a little short of breath after a walk of a couple of blocks. Can't tell if it's this heat wave or me.
I can do little easy projects around the house.
Prior to Surgery, I was able to do 4-5 flight of stairs with out a problem.
My stamina has dropped so much, I lost 15 pounds, I also feel like I lost some muscle. Not to be gross, but My Tush is flabbier the usual, My Butt feels like a bowel of jello.
On top of that. Two weeks ago, I get a virus that turned everything to water Out the other end.... :( . Down for another week. Missed a Family wedding
I had a repeat Cat Scan done last Friday,
I see the doctor Today. (7/19/11)
We'll discuss when I can go back to work. I'm thinking August first, That'll give me, ~ 2-weeks to build up my Stamina.
Is that too soon?
I have 10-12 weeks that my position at work is safe.
After that, they post it for someone else to fill. I will still have a job If I wait to long, I wont have that position.
I do alot of driving, with a few hours of one after another Patients in a Rehab/nursing home can be up to 30 to 40 patients in two to three hours. I am a phlebotomist. So I understand totally what it's like to be on both side of the bed.
That's enough for now.
So glad I found this site. the depression was starting to get to me. Reading others situation helped me to feel "normal".
Thank you!
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Look at what my best friend did with my picture!
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We all have 24 hours in a day. How we spend these hours is important. Watching a little bit of a video about how sitting affects us made me aware of how much sitting and laying down I do. Gonna have to work on that.Your turn. Tell me another truth.
It's hard to know what too soon is. I had bilateral PEs and was in the hospital for 7 days, 3 in the ICU and 4 in the cardiac unit, and my doc said I could go back to work right away, if I felt up to it, since I had a desk job, and was also able to work from home if needed. So, I went back to work 2 weeks after coming out of the hospital. It's freakin' exhausting; I'm not going to lie. So, just be prepared for the fatigue. I think I went to bed the minute I got home from work those first few weeks.
If you haven't started already, you may want to start doing some walking to build up your lung and muscle strength and stamina. My doc had me walking several times a day, even just for a few minutes to start, while I was in the hospital. I credit that, and then walking a lot once I got home, with helping get back to work so soon.
So, I would just see how you feel, but I also believe it's psychologically important to get back to some normal stuff in your life, to interact with people, etc. And I think waiting too long to go back to work doesn't do you any favors. I know that some people are out of work for months, and I can't help but assume the longer you wait, the longer it takes to recover. Plus, if we wait until we feel a 100%, geez, you may be waiting a really long time.
And you are normal. Some describe it as a "new normal," but it's normal none the less. Recovery can take a while. I didn't really feel like myself until about 3 months after the PE. For some it's longer. For some it's less. So, don't get freaked out if you think you should be excelling more. It truly is a marathon and not a sprint.
You're going to be alright. And don't think the irony of you being a phlebotomist isn't lost on us, with all that INR checking that goes on here. It will make you a much more empathetic vampire.
I see you're a retired paramedic. My brother is a firefighter, but just became a paramedic as well. You see the world differently being in that line of work. Paramedics didn't let me die in my living room from my PEs. So hats off to you guys.