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.
It's been one week since I was diagnosed with 2 PE with a DVT still existing in my leg. I was in the hospital for only 2 days and I think I'm doing well.
Some Background Info:
I'm still on Dilaudid and Tylenol for my chest pain. In general the pain is very slight (very deep breaths only) or non-existent, but when the pills start to wear off, I start to feel it more. I thought the pain had gone away 4 days ago and I stopped the pain meds. I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain. Now I'm in no rush to get off the drugs unless the pain is completely gone...and I'll still get off the pills slowly.
My initial INR readings have been a little out of whack. I was tested 2 days after getting out of the hospital at 2.8 and then 3.5 the next day. They stopped the Lovenox after the first reading, and then had me skip a day of Warfarin after the 3.5 reading. I'm now waiting for my results after the weekend.
I'm just staring to work again (from home). I'm a consultant and can do most of my work remotely.
My Question:
It came up today that we may need to do a face-to-face meeting with the client sometime before July 3rd. Is it too soon to fly? It would be a 2-3 hour flight followed by a 1 hour car ride. (Luckily, it's with a medical organization...if I ended up having trouble)
I thought I'd have a little more time to get comfortable with everything before having to think about this. I will certainly talk to my doctor, but I wanted to find out what others have experienced and the advice you have been given. I have concerns related to the existing DVT, flying in general after a PE, and flying when my INR isn't quite stable.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
Some Background Info:
I'm still on Dilaudid and Tylenol for my chest pain. In general the pain is very slight (very deep breaths only) or non-existent, but when the pills start to wear off, I start to feel it more. I thought the pain had gone away 4 days ago and I stopped the pain meds. I woke up in the middle of the night with horrible pain. Now I'm in no rush to get off the drugs unless the pain is completely gone...and I'll still get off the pills slowly.
My initial INR readings have been a little out of whack. I was tested 2 days after getting out of the hospital at 2.8 and then 3.5 the next day. They stopped the Lovenox after the first reading, and then had me skip a day of Warfarin after the 3.5 reading. I'm now waiting for my results after the weekend.
I'm just staring to work again (from home). I'm a consultant and can do most of my work remotely.
My Question:
It came up today that we may need to do a face-to-face meeting with the client sometime before July 3rd. Is it too soon to fly? It would be a 2-3 hour flight followed by a 1 hour car ride. (Luckily, it's with a medical organization...if I ended up having trouble)
I thought I'd have a little more time to get comfortable with everything before having to think about this. I will certainly talk to my doctor, but I wanted to find out what others have experienced and the advice you have been given. I have concerns related to the existing DVT, flying in general after a PE, and flying when my INR isn't quite stable.
Any thoughts or advice would be appreciated.
Thanks!
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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.
I have to self inject clexane (Uk equivalent of Lovenox) the day before, day of and day after the flights in both directions. They're also around 2&1/2hrs....
I'd talk to your doctor about this one if it is urgent you travel for work. They may have a way round it by adapting your medication, but it sounds very soon to me... although like everyone else on here, I'm not medically trained.
Best talk to the professionals xx
I have to self inject clexane (Uk equivalent of Lovenox) the day before, day of and day after the flights in both directions. They're also around 2&1/2hrs....
I'd talk to your doctor about this one if it is urgent you travel for work. They may have a way round it by adapting your medication, but it sounds very soon to me... although like everyone else on here, I'm not medically trained.
Best talk to the professionals xx
http://patientblog.clotconnect.org/2012/05/15/recovery-after-a-dvt-or-pe/
Still you shouldn't go by this alone, and really discuss with your doc which sounds like your plan.
@rmb: thank you for the link to Clot Connect. It looks like there is a lot of information on that site. I'll be spending some time going through the rest of the materials.
If anyone else has advice or examples of when you started to fly again, I would appreciate it.
people on here can offer an opinion but they do not have the expertise and intimate knowledge of your complete medical history.
I flew a few months after mine. I used Lovenox the day of both flights there and back as my INR wasn't therapeutic before I left. It was a little too low. I then got a good seat with leg and aisle space by talking to the airline disability coordinator. Next, I brought powdered gatorade and bought a 32 oz water after security. I drank 1 oz/hour, got up lots, and wiggled my legs. I also had compression stockings on.
All of this was reviewed with my doc before the flight. I spoke both to my hematologist and my primary care doctor.
I write a lot about blood clots since I had one. I am trying to help out people by sharing what I learned. I have an article that may help you out that is about your question:
http://hubpages.com/_dailystrengthpe/t/2ed7db
Best wishes for healing!
I second the idea of using powdered gatorade ... I do that ALL the time.
In terms of electrolytes, I just went out and bought some saltstick caplets. I don't like Gatorade, and I like the idea of just being able to take these with whatever I can get to drink on the plane or in the airport.
I will let you know what happens next Monday.
I wore the compression socks, and was certainly far more aware of keeping moving than I would have been before. I'm still on Heparin so I realize I "should" be ok, but I needed to know that I was also making the effort to move.
I really only started to feel almost completely well again last week, almost exactly one month out past my diagnosis. I realize how lucky I am to be able to say that.