Hi all,

today I want to share some positivity, with the hope that it will cheer up many of you who are struggling with PE recovery.

First, just a quick recap on my situation. I had my first bilateral PE with lung infarction in May 2014, when I was 27. For months after that, I suffered from severe chest pain on the left side and shortness of breath. The largest clots in my left lungs never dissolved. Doctors did not find a cause for my PE other than birth control. However, in November 2015 a check-up scan detected new PEs in my left lung, this time unprovoked (no birth control anymore, no other apparent causes). Since then, I am on lifelong anticoagulation with Xarelto.

Now on to the good news: yesterday I completed my first half marathon with a finishing time of 2 hours, 0 minutes and 35 seconds, a pretty decent performance. I felt so happy!

I had started running in 2012, after relocating to a much flatter land than my coutry of origin. Working out (strength training, HIIT, yoga) has always been a large part of my life, a way for me to unwind and relax. When the first PE knocked me out, I was desperate and hopeless. I had to cancel all my races for that year and I had to stop training for months. However, what dragged me out was exactly the idea of going back to running again. And I still remember my first, very challenging kilometer after the PE. But I felt so alive.

After months of reconditioning, I managed to run the first 10k race after my PE, almost one year out. Pure happiness!
I spent the rest of 2015 training as hard as my body would allow (I still suffer from chronic pain from the first PE), but then my second PE was the new showstopper and I had to forego my races one more time. Luckily, this time around was much less full on. Once again, it was running that helped me cope with the idea of lifelong blood thinners, and the whole world behind them.

Although the second PE aggravated a bit the condition of my left lung and caused some mild pulmonary hypertension, I resumed training as soon as I was given clearance and in January I started following a program for my first half marathon. My doctors recommended caution, but also told me to trust my body, and so did I. It is of utmost importance.

A recent check-up at the sports medicine center revealed that, in spite of it all, I am in a decent shape and my lungs can compensate quite effectively for the part of the left lung that does not work anymore (almost 1/4-1/3). Now I am waiting for my next heart echo to see if all of the hypertension resolved. I will keep you posted.

I wanted to share my story not to brag, but just to say that there is hope at the end of the tunnel. When I first had my PE, I didn't think I could easily go back to running, let alone improve my performance with respect to the pre-PE era. But our bodies are amazing machines! I also wanted to stress the importance of finding something that gets you through and motivates you to heal and recover, both physically and mentally. For me it was running, but it can be a lot of different things. If you identify a goal that you want to achieve, a lot of fears and anxieties dissipate.

Yes, I still have lung pain and, yes, I cannot do my beloved kick-boxing anymore. But I can run again and I never felt so good in a long time :)

Thanks for reading.