Dr.'s Visit Tues 07/30/13
I went and saw my PCP today. He is prescribing some medicine to help clear up and out my breathing/lungs/etc. So we will see if it works or not.
I asked him to clarify things about my condition when I was in the hospital. He didn't exactly give me the answer I was hoping for I guess.
I asked him like how many clots were we talking that were in my lungs? just a few or what?
He said it was bi lateral pulmonary embolisms. The clots/blockages aren't like spot of pneumonia on your lungs. Once a clot blocks, they seem to kind of grow with the addition of more clots over time. It also became apparent that instead of having just a "few" single clots, I apparently had several built up "clots" all over the place in my lungs. So things were a lot worse then I suspected them to be in the beginning.
I know I am lucky to be here and that things could have gone the other way if I had waited much longer. Dr. agreed that although it was bad, it could have been a lot more severe and worse. He even admitted he was surprised that I had developed bi lateral PE's.
We also talked about how I felt it was kind of like a "bad dream" and he could kind of understand that. Now I really don't know what to think or feel. I guess it does at least explain why I am still having some bad days or times off and on.
Oh well......life goes on no matter what the quality of it is!
I asked him to clarify things about my condition when I was in the hospital. He didn't exactly give me the answer I was hoping for I guess.
I asked him like how many clots were we talking that were in my lungs? just a few or what?
He said it was bi lateral pulmonary embolisms. The clots/blockages aren't like spot of pneumonia on your lungs. Once a clot blocks, they seem to kind of grow with the addition of more clots over time. It also became apparent that instead of having just a "few" single clots, I apparently had several built up "clots" all over the place in my lungs. So things were a lot worse then I suspected them to be in the beginning.
I know I am lucky to be here and that things could have gone the other way if I had waited much longer. Dr. agreed that although it was bad, it could have been a lot more severe and worse. He even admitted he was surprised that I had developed bi lateral PE's.
We also talked about how I felt it was kind of like a "bad dream" and he could kind of understand that. Now I really don't know what to think or feel. I guess it does at least explain why I am still having some bad days or times off and on.
Oh well......life goes on no matter what the quality of it is!
Replies
I know it feels important to know the details of the clots, the number the size, etc. But honestly, I don\'t think it necessary always correlates to recovery. I think it\'s normal to have good and bad days regardless of the size of your clots, whether they were bilateral or not, etc.
What I do think is meaningful is that your doctor and you talked about it, and you talked about how it feels like a bad dream. Sometimes just having our doctors hear us, even though there\'s not much they can do about it at this point since you\'re clots have been treated and you\'re in recovery, is helpful. I know after I fired my primary doc and started seeing a new one after my second DVT, my new doc was going over my history with me at our first appointment together, and we started talking about the PE, and I joked \"as long as you don\'t kill me, I\'m good because honestly, I\'m a little gun shy about trusting doctors since three of them blew off of my symptoms of my original PE/DVT\". He looked at me and said, \"I don\'t blame you. I would be too.\" I thanked him for saying that. I swear, just him understanding that made me feel fantastic. It changed things for me, in a way, about how I decided to move forward with things.
Yes....that is one thing I like about this new doctor of mine. Although he is young, he listens and we talk about a lot of things.
Yesterday, he took time and really listened to my lungs, checked my throat, sinuses,etc. That is more then the one doctor did for hubby last week when he went to the doctors!! ( different clinic)
We don\'t always agree on things and I don\'t get a blank pass from him on things and that is okay also. The fact we can discuss things is nice. Even some \"personal\" issues can be discussed!
I had asked about the PE since I wasn\'t certain what he meant by \"not as bad as it could have been\". I was thinking just a couple small clots here or there in my lungs and not several of them of some size. He said they had gotten down into the really small parts of my lungs. So it was more severe then I had thought it was. You have to remember he left on vacation the first day I was in the hospital so I had someone else who wasn\'t as easy to talk to about things.
Yeah.. I don\'t think it changes my recovery that much except maybe it explains why I still have some issues from time to time that I thought I would be past by now.