- Joined
- May 7, 2017
- Messages
- 1,884
- Reason
- Lost a loved one
- Diagnosis
- 05/2017
- Country
- CA
- State
- AB
- City
- CALGARY
A sort of PSA for everyone. Pulmonary embolisms are not unheard of for those who have ALS, either leg onset or those who are immobile. There are usually signs several days before hand or at least before it gets too serious. Wayne, however, had no signs. He went to the bathroom Monday night, turned to wash his hands and passed out hitting his face in three different areas as he went down. When I found him he was unconscious, with his eyes bulging out of his head and white as a sheet. He started seizing and I called 911 immediately. It turns out he had a huge blood clot in his lungs and several in his legs.
The reason this message is a PSA is because Wayne is still fairly mobile. He walks around the house with his sticks and occasionally does the treadmill. This, unfortunately, was not enough. Wayne was meant to die because of the severity and size of his clot (he had a submassive saddle pulmonary embolism) but he didn't. I give credit to the fast action of the paramedics and the ER team for this. Wayne is still in ICU but will move to another ward for monitoring for the next few days.
Please, if you have ALS, speak to your health care provider to see if there are ways to head things like a PE off. Again, this was unexpected and scary as hell. If it was not for what I had learned on this forum, which is to not wait even one minute when your PALS fall and to call 911 immediately, he would have died.
The reason this message is a PSA is because Wayne is still fairly mobile. He walks around the house with his sticks and occasionally does the treadmill. This, unfortunately, was not enough. Wayne was meant to die because of the severity and size of his clot (he had a submassive saddle pulmonary embolism) but he didn't. I give credit to the fast action of the paramedics and the ER team for this. Wayne is still in ICU but will move to another ward for monitoring for the next few days.
Please, if you have ALS, speak to your health care provider to see if there are ways to head things like a PE off. Again, this was unexpected and scary as hell. If it was not for what I had learned on this forum, which is to not wait even one minute when your PALS fall and to call 911 immediately, he would have died.