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.
I was reading through some info my OB/GYN gave me today on some uterine surgery I'm considering. It isn't surgery she usually does, so she printed out some info from the Internet and gave me a referral. The info is from Georgetown University Hospital and discusses some of the possible complications from the surgery, including blood clots. The literature says:
"While pulmonary embolus usually does not result in permanent injury, it can cause death in rare instances."
Ummmmm .... WHAT???!!!
Seriously, I've never met a doctor that doesn't go a little bit gray at the mention of PEs. This seems like blatent misrepresentation of this risks of PEs. They are fatal in many, many cases (about 50%, I think).
I'm all for giving doctors the benefit of the doubt, but it annoys me when medical professionals are mis-stating the facts and then publishing them. Seems really, really wrong and makes me just grit my teeth.
"While pulmonary embolus usually does not result in permanent injury, it can cause death in rare instances."
Ummmmm .... WHAT???!!!
Seriously, I've never met a doctor that doesn't go a little bit gray at the mention of PEs. This seems like blatent misrepresentation of this risks of PEs. They are fatal in many, many cases (about 50%, I think).
I'm all for giving doctors the benefit of the doubt, but it annoys me when medical professionals are mis-stating the facts and then publishing them. Seems really, really wrong and makes me just grit my teeth.
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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.
She kept on asking the nurses to be discharged because she had to pay her bills and she had a flight to the Virgin Islands in a few days. The nurses and doctors would say 'if we discharge you now, your bills and your trip won't matter'. But she just didn't get it.
I understand that they don't want to scare people, but I think for some folks it's necessary to give them the whole picture.
The likelihood of dying from PE is very low, but massive PE can cause sudden death. Most deaths occur before diagnosis is made, often within 1 to 2 hours of the embolism occurring. If a person is alive when diagnosed, the chance of survival is about 95%.