Monday evening, August 23rd around 7pm, my step dad called me to say my mom wasn’t feeling well. She was getting ready for a shower when she felt like passing out after bending over to get something out of the tub. She made it to the bed and laid down. She told me she felt dizzy and very sweaty but better now that she was laying down. I asked as many questions I needed to feel comfortable about this being an isolated incident and told her to take it easy and drink some water. I called about 10 minutes later after seeing a missed phone call and my step dad said the paramedics were on their way. He told me she drank the water and immediately felt nauseous. He helped her to the bathroom where she sat in front of the toilet to throw up but ended up passing out and throwing up everywhere else.
We arrived at the ER in fast track (non acute side) about the same time the ambulance was off loading her, just in time to hear their report. Things still sounded like she just needed a few bags of IV fluid and we’d be on the way home. The PA saw her and ordered lab draws and a CT of her head first. When she came back she was quite nauseated from the ride and jostling. We asked the RN for something to make her comfortable but were denied. (I like to refer to her as Broom Hilda) We made the most of it and we were laughing with her talking about the wedding and all of the funny things that she never told her husband (my step dad) about. It was a hoot! They came in for a portable chest x-ray and thankfully we were told mom was moving to another room in the ER, because they were closing FT for the night. Bye-bye Broom Hilda!
We sat there for quite a while keeping ourselves entertained and then the nurse came in with a cup full of aspirin and I the strip of paper they use for Nitroglycerin paste. As my mind took a spin, she chuckled and said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m not paying attention” and walked back out. In my mind I thought, “that’s RIGHT! Shoo on outta here and check your patient lists again and DON’T come back in here with someone else’s meds!” To my surprise she quickly returned and said, “I’m sorry! I forgot to bring you water for your meds!” I swung my head towards my husband who is also a paramedic and gave him the, ‘I’m REALLY confused’ look. All the while my mother is beaming over the fact that baby aspirin’s are GOOD and not nasty like other meds. I politely asked the nurse why she was giving these meds and she said the Dr. ordered them. (huh?!)
The CT guy came back and announced that he was taking mom for a chest CT and off she went. While she was gone the nurse came back in the room. She told us that mom’s labs came back high. Her CK, CKMB (lab values that measure if she had a heart attack) were normal but the Troponin (lab value that measures muscle injury in the heart) came back at 2.08 (normal is 0.00-0.05). With that being said I thought maybe she had some cardiac event, to what extent, I didn’t know. Mom came back from CT and the ER Dr. came in the room to tell us what was going on, but he left again to gather more of the test results. I think an hour passed before we saw him again but it was then that time stood still.
He walked into the room and there were 3 other people behind him. “Well, the results are in and it’s worse than we ever thought. Everyone listen up and listen closely. I don’t even know how to say this so I’m just going to read the report from the radiologist.” He looked down to the paper in his hand and read what it wrote. “The heart size is normal. There is no pericardial effusion. There are filling defects seen within the main right and left common arteries consistent with bilateral large saddle embolus… blah, blah, blah, blah….yada, yada, yada…” (I was listening… really. I just didn’t hear anything past the ’saddle embolus’ comment.) He looked up from the paper and said, “ This is very serious. You could die. In fact, you shouldn’t be here right now.” My mom kept looking at me trying to see what my reactions would be. I was frozen. My mom wasn’t comprehending what he was saying and says, “Crap! That means I have to be on Coumadin for the rest of my life?!” He looked at her and said, “Don’t worry about the rest of your life. Worry about the next 24-36 hours. You need to call the family and they need to be here with you. You may not make it, this is very serious.” My mom looked at me and said, “I’m sorry” as she began to cry. He announced the Interventional Radiologist would be seeing her in the morning and then introduced us to the hospitalist, who had come in from home and she evaluated my mom in the ER. When she finished I stepped outside because I couldn’t stop shaking and it was only getting worse. It was as if I was standing outside in the snow with shorts and t-shirt the way I was shaking but I couldn’t control it. My mind was swimming because I wanted to know what else was on the report and what it meant. I asked the ER Doc what all he said and he handed me the paper with the dictation on it.
“Findings: The heart size is normal. There is no pericardial effusion. There are filling defects seen within the main right and left common arteries consistent with bilateral large saddle embolus involving both hemi thoraces, right and left upper as well as lower lobes, right middle lobe and lingula.
Impression: Acute moderate-large bilateral saddle pulmonary embolus. There are filling defects seen within the main right and left common arteries consistent with bilateral large saddle embolus involving both hemi thoraces, right and left upper as well as lower lobes, right middle lobe and lingula.”
I looked at Dr. Sheppard, whom I’ve known for about 14 years and he said to me, “You know what that means right?” I told him that I thought so. “You know it doesn’t get any worse than this don’t you?” I nodded my head yes, fighting back the tears. “You know she is very lucky to not have dropped dead too, right?” “Yeah,” I muttered. I thanked him and walked towards my mothers room and stood outside the door with Josh. It wasn’t long after that we were packing up for the walk to ICU. I walked over to the Dr. and thanked him and he hugged me. Josh shook his hand and we were on our way.
We arrived in ICU but before we were able to breathe, they told us mom was going to radiology to have a procedure done. They announced that the Dr. is coming in to address the blood clots and it would take about an hour and a half. We walked with her and said our well wishes outside of the waiting room. My husband, step dad, sister and I retreated to the waiting room in anticipation of the arrival of the physician, who would be saving my mother’s life. I was overly antsy. I could hardly sit still. The minutes passed about as fast as growing grass. It was about an hour and a half before a bubbly man walked into the back door of the waiting room looking for someone. My step dad and I were the only ones in the room at the time and we had no idea who he was looking for. I don’t even remember how the conversation started but we found out it was Dr. Agha. He told us that he was going to wait until later in the day to see her but when he read the report he knew he had to come see her now. He said he was going to go in through the groin and place a filter in her abdomen then get to her lungs to inject the clots with
tPA. He also reminded us of how critical she was but that he was confident in what he was going to do. So we waited…
It was about 30 minutes later when my sister came running up the hallway saying we had to go, NOW. I swear my heart stopped right then and there. As we were rushing down the hallway, we found the nurse standing at the head of my mothers bed saying she was done, and heading back to ICU. I wanted to puke.
That day mom had to lay still because of the grafting through her groin. She was a champ. We were told mom would be in ICU for 4-6 days and about 36 hours later, we were headed up to the 5th floor. It didn’t matter who the caregiver was, when they heard the story or saw the diagnosis, they were amazed and filled with goose bumps. We were reminded each time of how lucky we were to have her here. While on the floor, we were told she would be there at least a week… she was up there for 4 days. We've found that this may have been something she's lived with her entire life so they took blood samples to find out if it is
Factor V Leiden. If so... My siblings and I will be tested for the same. This may have saved all of our lives.
Our little miracle. Thank you Jesus for healing my mother. Special thank you to Buckeye Fire Department Engine 705, Buckeye Valley Fire District R328 and West Valley ER staff, ICU and 5th Floor staff for taking part in giving us more time with my mom.
