What might have been...

I was reading an article the other day about a young mother in Charlotte who lost her life due to a pulmonary embolism. A pulmonary embolism (also known as PE) is basically when a blood clot becomes dislodged from its site of formation and moves to one, or both, of the lungs. Lately I have read, or heard of, more and more people developing blood clots. But reading about this mother made me think back to May of this year when my family had a scare.

It was a busy day because Hayden, my baby, was due to have tubes put in his ears early that morning. Michael and I were on our way to the surgery center when he complained about having a tight feeling in his chest-in fact, the night before he had tossed and turned alot saying he felt like he couldn't catch his breath. As bad as it sounds I just figured he was terribly out of shape and needed to get over it! The procedure for Hayden went over perfectly, thank God, but on our way home Michael kept complaining to me. He had actually had surgery a few weeks earlier to repair his knee, which had been injured while playing volleyball at church. Even though he hadn't really been laying around alot, he was alot less mobile than his normal self-so I wondered if maybe he was getting pneumonia. I had heard that people who are confined to bed can get that sometimes. I made him call his doctor to get their opinion and I went on about my business. At this point, just walking from our car into the house took every bit of breathe and energy he had so I was actually starting to worry a bit. The nurse listened to his symptoms over the phone and told us we needed to get him to the ER because it sounded like a blood clot to her. This was the first time I had ever really heard much about a blood clot, and honestly had no idea of its seriousness. I had my dad come get the boys and drove Michael on to the hospital. On the way there I could see the fear in his eyes, because at this point he was barely able to breathe and it scared him. When we got to the hospital, the actually rushed us back to a room where the asked him numerous questions and started running multiple tests. After a few hours passed, which I now know was a ridiculous amount of time to have to wait while experiencing his symptoms, the doctor came in to him and explained he had a pulmonary embolism. (In fact, BOTH of his lungs were filled with clots.) I naively asked the doctor if it was serious, and he replied "Yes! If you would of waited to bring him to the hospital, he would of been dead!" At that moment, Michael and were both filled with fear and the "what ifs" began.

Michael was hospitalized for a week...a long, scary week that I will never forget. Throughout that week we were assured by some doctors that he was out of danger at that point, but the occasional nurse would mention to us that with the severity of his PE he was still in danger of death! Obviously, it has now been 6 months and he is alive-so God did save him, but that fear we felt still haunts me from time to time. In a way, I'm thankful for the experience because its a good reminder to not take my family for granted--and I hope this story will remind you to go hug your own family and make sure they know you love them!