I’m invincible and nothing can happen to me. I’ve felt that way since I was a teenager. It’s funny how your mind can change after you’ve been in hospital for a week with blood clots in the lungs that probably migrated from the legs.
On Sunday March 12th my brother-in-law passed away in Orlando Florida and we immediately on the Monday jumped in the car and headed south. The sole purpose of the car trip was just to get there. No thought was given to the advice I’d received over the years of stopping often and stretching my legs. I thought the advice was for other folks.
Generally when we travel by car, we travel for the fun of the trip and we seldom drive for hours on end without a break. When one is traveling just to get somewhere, the rules change but they should not!
We spent the week with family helping as we could. I was feeling a little winded and tired but I put that down to the trip and the stress. Little did I know. The following Sunday (March 20th) we started the 930 mile journey home. Again with no thought about stopping and resting we traveled mile after mile with no breaks. My first real taste of the problem was perhaps six hours or so into the trip home when I stopped for gas and a whiz. I found myself completely out of breath and I took perhaps 10 minutes or so leaning on a garbage container near the gas pumps to catch my breath.
Once ‘rested’ I was OK and we continued North. I had other challenges on the way home and let’s just leave it at that.
Tuesday morning on 3/22, it was off to the doctor and admission to hospital. The team in the emergency department thought, heart attack or perhaps pneumonia. A CAT scan later in the day identified blood clots in my lungs.
A week in the hospital with blood thinners and oxygen is no fun!
It looks like I’m out of the woods and on the mend.
Perhaps you should consider this little story before your next car, train or airplane trip. Get out of that seat at least every two hours and stretch those legs. Looks like I’ll be on blood thinners for the next year or so. Bummer
Let me just end with ‘Heavy Breathing was a lot more fun when I was younger!’
Well it’s a couple of month’s later and I do feel fine again. The scare is over, I hope. This event does cause one to change habits. I do get out of the car more often than I once did!