Pulmonary embolism now what?

How great they caught it before it caused trouble!

I'm doing the lovenox shots for a DVT. The medication hasn't gotten in the way of any cancer treatments. My MO says that cancer folk are prone to clots, and I'm sure that the immobility of recovering after surgery didn't help. That's what got me - I had to stay in the same position for 7 days to recover from a vitrectomy.

It does seem like it is one damn thing after the other though, doesn't it? Eliquis is a really good drug. I'm in a sort of clot survivors support group, and I haven't heard of anyone having further clot trouble once on this drug. In fact, one doctor chimed in to say that it was "impossible" to develop a new clot while on the drug!

Take care.

Thank you for posting this. Im going thru something similar. Monday I went to get my scheduled infusion and was sent to the ER because my shortness of breath.

I have extensive lung mets, pleural effusion with pleurx catheter to drain...so when the ER Dr said they found a blood clot in my right lung, I wasn't surprised but still asking myself how to deal with this now.

I was on the hospital for 3 days with IV Heparin, and now taking Xarelto twice a day.

Hopefully we all get this too under control

::raising hand::

I, too, had a Ct scan 10 weeks ago, [maybe more?] which showed stable and this pesky embolism. A small one, terciery artery, but there none-the-less. Frantic phone calls on a Friday, and I had started the Lovenox that night. Unlike Jennifer who is a rock-star, I am a wimp and my husband does the twice a day shots. Yes, I hate this, but what else can we do?

My CT scan from two weeks ago states that they no longer see the embolism, but also says "this isn't the right test to see for sure." Radiologists are really good at the CYA approach to medicine. However, they saw it on a CT and now they don't which is good enough for me.

You really should be good now that they have been seen before you had issues.

*susan*

Is the vitrectomy related to cancer?

The proteins the cancer creates/stimulates the body to create can put us at risk for DVT and PE. I had a subclavian DVT at 28, just over a year before I was diagnosed with breast cancer, which was being caused by the cancer. In hindsight, it is shocking no one even tested me for any cancers as the #1 cause of DVT/PE is cancer - my DVT was rare given the location and my age. I was tested for everything else possible other than cancer and nothing was found. Despite the risk, I did take Tamoxifen for nearly 5 years after the DVT. I was monitored closely and remained on a baby aspirin the whole time. I am not on baby aspirin right now because of bleeding risk with my chemo but I do stay on it whenever I do not have a medicine contraindication.

I had a friend diagnosed with early stage BC around the same time as me. She survived cancer but died of a blood clot after she gave birth to her third "miracle" child. We were all shocked beyond words. It happened so fast. Anyway, since then, I am even more vigilent. I was pregnant when diagnosed and had to have the baby out 7 weeks early because I was essentially dying of uncontrollable hypercalcemia and no treatments were helping me. I needed my estrogen levels lowered. Anyway, at that point, my bone mets had turned my whole body into swiss cheese to where I could barely take a step up or down and could not even sit up or down without putting all weight on my arms. My hips were about to disintegrate. However, after I had the C section and in my awful, excrutiating state with bone mets, I forced myself out of the hospital bed very quickly after I had the C section and would make myself walk a few times a day. Everyone was shocked I was up and about but thinking about my friend Kat who died, and thinking of my baby in the NICU down the hall, I was determined not to get any blood clots after the surgery. Definitely important to keep moving in general but after surgery or procedures, it is critical, even if it is very difficult to move at that point and that last thing on earth one wants to do.

Nope. I whipped through Dr. Google, and it seems to indicate narrowing of the blood vessels in the retina because of hypertension. It should be managed/observed because the narrowing of the vessel can lead to vessel blockage in the retina.

Now, this is just me, reading https://www.reviewofoptometry.com/article/recogniz...

This is something you need to talk to your eye doctor about. If they didn't bring it up as a big deal, I'll bet you barely have the symptoms, and they are just being a good doctor by noting it.

A vitrectomy is where they suck all the jelly out of the eye and replace it with a gas bubble. Over seven to ten days the gas dissipates and is replaced by brand new vitreus humor. In my case, it was done because I had a retinal hemorrhage, and the vitreus humor was full of blood, so I was blind in the eye. I could have waited six months to see if it would clear on its own, but my eye surgeon thought that it probably wouldn't, and being blind in my dominant eye was freaking me out. I was extremely nearsighted in that eye, which can lead to retinal troubles as one ages.