How Medium Triggered a Two-Week Stay in the Hospital

Because of a Massive Pulmonary Embolism

Gradually I began taking a nap every day. Then a couple weeks later, one nap felt so good, I started taking two naps every day. A week or so into three naps a day as I lay on the bed, I realized I couldn’t move my legs. Then I broke out in a cold sweat.

“Eric,” I yelled out to my husband, “Call 911. I’m having a heart attack.” Within minutes I was lying on a gurney in an ambulance and then in the emergency room at Porter Hospital, just blocks from our house.

Several tests later, including a CT Scan, a young doc looked down at me.

“MaryJo, you didn’t have a heart attack. You have a massive pulmonary embolism in your right lung and several smaller ones in the left lung and in your left leg. You are lucky to be alive. We’re admitting you to the hospital.”

Within minutes I was in a hospital room with a Heparin IV running through a tube into the back of my right hand and into my blood stream and an intravenous-fluids IV running into the back of my left hand plus a an oxygen cannula in my nose. (Heparin prevents further blood clots.) Nurses were in and out checking blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen every little while.

Eric was sitting in a chair next to my bed, looking worried. He’s called Stephen, my son, so everyone can worry together. I stayed in the hospital a week, eventually getting strong enough that I could sit up in the Lazy-Boy-like chair in the room. Then I could take short walks down the hall with a walker and Eric at my side.

After a week, I no longer needed skilled nursing care and was moved, again by ambulance, to a rehab hospital. Still attached to supplemental oxygen, I’d get two hours of physical therapy and one hour of occupational therapy every day, including walks around the large gym. First with a walker. Then graduating to a cane. And finally walking on my own. The food was decent, the desserts fabulous, and best of all, the therapists were exceptional.

Home finally but still lacking enough energy to resume life-before-blood-clot. Checking out the information and research on pulmonary embolisms, I find that it can take months for a blood clot to disperse into the blood stream. Months! I have a doctor’s appointment. She agrees with “months.”

Home health PTs and OTs come to the house, leading me through various exercises. They leave half-a-dozen xeroxed sheets of exercise instructions and a long length of theraband. The therapists both agree that I should use my floor peddler several times a day. (Glad I already had this gizmo.) Schedule their next visit and tell me to take walks but not without a cane or walker and preferably with Eric along.

So how did I get a massive pulmonary embolism? Although to an extent genetic and can be caused by falls like the one I had in my office a few weeks ago, blood clots are often caused by . . . sitting too much!

And sitting too much brings me to Medium. I was introduced to this wonderful writing platform in June 2020 and encouraged to write every day. I fell in love! Now every day people are reading what I write. Who could resist?

I love to write. I love to do research. However, one could write a lot more and a lot quicker if one didn’t think up writing topics that involve research.

For example, my recent piece “Bach and Rock ‘n Roll,” a whopping 11-minute read, required enough research for a small book. Just because Bach is my favorite composer, and I know a great deal about him and his music didn’t mean I could write the piece without checking facts, dates, and statistics.

My addiction to Medium caused me to sit for long hours writing, proofreading, researching, replying to comments, reading what others have written. And then editing for inclusion in my forthcoming book, Oh Look . . . There’s a Squirrel.

Forget exercise. Forget walking. Just sit. Sit all day long, day after day.

Following that unhealthy regimen day after day for several months created the perfect conditions for a blood clot.

For the time being, I have checks in place to avoid too much sitting. I get tired easily and have to lie down. I have physical and occupational therapists coming several times a week. I’m apprehensive enough about the blood clot that I’m propelled to do what I need to do.

Now the challenge is keeping up the healthy life style and exercise after I have my energy back and after the therapists stop coming every week.