Breathe In, Breathe Out
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
HUBS WITH THE GANGIt's been an exciting couple of days at the maison de formerlyfun, whew. Friday night, hubs and I took our 8 year old son to his school's family rollerskate party. In spite of a side stitch, presumably from completing the clean the garage section of his 'Honey-Do' list, my husband skated up a storm along with a handful of the other dads and I got to show off my cool junior high skate moves. The boy had a great time on his mom and dad date, soaking up all of our attention in the absence of his two charming sisters.
Husband's side pain got worse and he was up and down until about 1am when he woke me to help him get dressed so he could go to the emergency room. Luckily, the hospital is only 5 minutes from our house. Rather than get three kids out of bed, I reluctantly let him drive himself over. Hubs is healthy as a horse, low cholesterol, blood pressure, at a good weight, active and we eat well. This being the case, I expected perhaps he had an angry muscle or some intestinal gas or kink that was working its way through. He called me several times through the night to update me on what was going on until the call at 4am to tell me he had a pulmonary embolism. You're thinking holy shit aren't you, lord knows I certainly was. My husband is never ill, rarely even catching whatever the kids have brought home from school.
For those of you who don't know(I didn't), a pulmonary embolism is when somewhere in your body(usually the legs) a blood clot forms, dislodges and travels through your heart and wedges itself into your lung causing big problems. Oh, and it's sometimes fatal. Oh, and it's the third leading cause of hospital death. Oh, if it goes untreated for too long it can overtax your heart and cause pulmonary hypotension, overtax your heart muscle and potentially cause heart failure, leading to death. Yeah, now you can see why I haven't been around.
We were already a bit stressed in our house from my surgery a month ago and then husband goes and forms a blood clot, thoughtless lout. Actually poor guy spent several days in the hospital on a bevy of blood thinners getting stuck like a pin cushion every few hours. He finally came home and has to take a blood thinner pill and give himself two injections a day for the next week. Superfun no? Needless to say, we've met our deductible for the year.
We have appointments coming up with a hematologist. Given that hubs had none of the risk factors for pulmonary embolism, it is likely a genetic issue. We are both trying not to let our anxiety about this get the better of us but man oh man, there were some tears back and forth as we pondered the 'what-ifs'. I spent several nights alone in our bed and in spite of the ample room to stretch out, I could hardly sleep without him there. He was in the hospital getting poked and prodded, monitored and evaluated. He also had to eat hospital food which given my cooking acumen, amounts to a real punishment. He's home and we are trying to get back to normal, whatever that is. pic
Husband's side pain got worse and he was up and down until about 1am when he woke me to help him get dressed so he could go to the emergency room. Luckily, the hospital is only 5 minutes from our house. Rather than get three kids out of bed, I reluctantly let him drive himself over. Hubs is healthy as a horse, low cholesterol, blood pressure, at a good weight, active and we eat well. This being the case, I expected perhaps he had an angry muscle or some intestinal gas or kink that was working its way through. He called me several times through the night to update me on what was going on until the call at 4am to tell me he had a pulmonary embolism. You're thinking holy shit aren't you, lord knows I certainly was. My husband is never ill, rarely even catching whatever the kids have brought home from school.
For those of you who don't know(I didn't), a pulmonary embolism is when somewhere in your body(usually the legs) a blood clot forms, dislodges and travels through your heart and wedges itself into your lung causing big problems. Oh, and it's sometimes fatal. Oh, and it's the third leading cause of hospital death. Oh, if it goes untreated for too long it can overtax your heart and cause pulmonary hypotension, overtax your heart muscle and potentially cause heart failure, leading to death. Yeah, now you can see why I haven't been around.
We were already a bit stressed in our house from my surgery a month ago and then husband goes and forms a blood clot, thoughtless lout. Actually poor guy spent several days in the hospital on a bevy of blood thinners getting stuck like a pin cushion every few hours. He finally came home and has to take a blood thinner pill and give himself two injections a day for the next week. Superfun no? Needless to say, we've met our deductible for the year.
We have appointments coming up with a hematologist. Given that hubs had none of the risk factors for pulmonary embolism, it is likely a genetic issue. We are both trying not to let our anxiety about this get the better of us but man oh man, there were some tears back and forth as we pondered the 'what-ifs'. I spent several nights alone in our bed and in spite of the ample room to stretch out, I could hardly sleep without him there. He was in the hospital getting poked and prodded, monitored and evaluated. He also had to eat hospital food which given my cooking acumen, amounts to a real punishment. He's home and we are trying to get back to normal, whatever that is. pic
19 comments:
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Thank god you caught it. My colleague had a pulmonary embolism in college, and they were worried about clotting when she was pregnant and had to give herself those shots every day.
She's fine now, just very aware of her body and watches for the symptoms. He should be careful not to take birth control pills or get pregnant- that just messes with the clotting. :)
How terrifying. And I would be glued to his side and off the computer too. :(
Phew, dude, thank god he's OK. Truly scary. Get well, Mr. FormerlyFun! And don't do it again!
God bless your family. You have been through some stuff lately.
And truly, don't beat yourself up about not driving him to the hospital. I had to make the same choice when my kids were little. For my husband it turned out to be something rather mild, but he couldn't drive himself. I got him a cab. I was fresh off a business trip, and it was 2 in the morning. The kids were sleeping and I was out of it. He was safer in the cab.
You made the right choice, but you can see why some of us always say to live each day as though it's your last. I've had 2 very close calls. I try to drink up my moments and savor them.
All the best to you and your family as you all heal.
Peace - D
Thank god you caught it!! I going to call my husband and tell him that I love him!
Wow! My sister-in-law's family has the genetics for clotting and have done exactly what you guys are doing...education about the risk, how to deal with it, etc...
I'm SO glad you caught it. And I agree with IncredibleWoody...I'm going to give my husband extra big hugs today and POSSIBLY take cleaning the garage off of his 'honey do' list.
Thanks for sharing this...and best, best, best to your family for getting everything figured out.
Goodness! I'm glad they caught it!
Thoughts for you guys and your hubs quick recovery.
Thank God they caught it! My former SIL died of one, though hers was a side effect of gastric bypass surgery. Scary nonetheless. I have a genetic mutation called Factor 5 Leiden which makes me susceptible to such clots, too. They thought I had one last summer and it was terrifying being the hospital not knowin if the dang thing was going to make it's way to my heart or something. Enough horror stories. I am sooo glad he is OK!! I will say a prayer for him!
I'm emailing you about something...go read it!
If you need more hope and luck...you can have mine. I don't need it that badly.
Jesus, how frightening! I'm glad he went in when he did. Sending you healthy thoughts.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!
Oh, honey.
Pulmonary embolism's are my worst nightmare. I've lost people to them and I think about them all the time and I think so few people realize how prevalent they are and -- oh, but I'm rambling HOLY SHIT!
I'm so sorry you're going through this. I've spent one night in my life alone in bed while my husband slept in a hospital bed miles away, and I know that fear, that pondering...
ohhhhhhh, god, how scary. I'm so sorry.
Oh gosh, how horribly scary!!
My OH had a DVT a few years back, then his cousin died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism following a flight home from Spain. To say I'm twitchy about it all is an understatement. Actually it's almost reassuring to hear about someone who had one, drove himself to hospital and survived.
Many hugs to you. And as you say 'breathe in, breathe out'.
And if he smokes, try to make him stop. I'm having no luck with OH, sadly.
Good lord! How scary! I wonder if the fact that he was in such good health was a benefit in all this? Regardless, I hope he gets back to 100% soon!
Whoa! Scary stuff. I hope that this is a one-time event for him.
How insanely scary. I hope you're holding it together-- sounds like you are.
Oh my! That's so scary and I hope it gets corrected soon.real soon.
Get well soon Mr. Formerly fun and if you haven't heard this enough... You have a BEEEEAAAAUUUUTTTIIFFULLLL Family!!
As you "Breathe In and Breathe Out",
remember to stay focussed on the "What Is" rather than the "What If".
The scary part has passed.
Big Hugs, and Truckloads of Strength and Well Wishes to the FF Family XO
I'd like to share ...
September 30th made 21 years since my heart attack (I was 36) ... I was in Albany, NY on business in an airport hotel room. I was on the phone with my wife who was in Lynn, MA as it came on. I passed out and she called the hotel's front desk to alert them.
Good Times!
Take care of yourself and your beautiful family.