04-11-2009, 11:38 PM
It was a Saturday morning, three months after my 30th birthday. I took my 2 year old to a dance class at our local YMCA. We were jumping and then the pain struck out of nowhere. It was so intense and I immediately knew something was very wrong. I grabbed my daughter and limped to the car. I pulled up my pant leg and my leg was huge and purple! I called my husband and told him to come quick I needed to go to the ER and I could not drive home. My first thought was I have a blood clot. The ER doctor was baffled at my case. An ultrasound showed there was some slowness in the flow in my left leg, but was not conclusive. A CT scan confirmed a clot in my plevis (left common illiac to be exact) The Radiologist told me I have May Thurners Syndrome and I was admitted to the hospital. I was given a powerful clot busting drug called tpa that was dripped by a catheter into my vein over 4 days. On the last day I received 3 stents to keep the vein from collapsing again. I was sent home on Plavix and told to have a follow up Venagram in 6 months, I was also told it would be a good idea to see a Hematologist since my father also suffered from blood clots. My 6 month Venagram showed excellent flow and I was taken off the Plavix and told to take a Asprin daily instead. After the Venagram my left leg started to ache mainly in the evenings. This went on for several months so I went to see a Vascular specialist, he told me that I had Post Phlebetic Syndrome and told me some pain was normal and that I would most likely have it for life. In January 2009 the pain got really bad and I started to experience shortness of breath episodes. I went in for another Venagram and they found another clot, right below where my stents are, the stents though were patent (open) I was admitted to the hospital and started on a Heparin drip along with Coumadin. I was told that my clot was sesile (flapping around) so I elected to have a temporary Vena Cava filter. I spent 6 days in the hospital and was sent home on lovenox and Coumadin. I had another Venagram a month later that showed the clot was gone, but an attempt to remove the vena cava filter was not successful. I finally went to see a Hematologist and I tested negative for clotting disorders. I am on Coumadin and will most likely be on it for life. I am a runner and have been able to continue my running.