Just one day after bringing her baby home from the hospital, a Michigan mom was trying to settle into her new life when she noticed something didn't feel right. Emily Wheeler, who was 22 at the time, told Newsweek that she had enjoyed dinner with her family, taken a shower and was relaxing at home with her newborn when she experienced an overwhelming sense of impending doom. At first, the symptoms seemed mild.
Her blood pressure was normal and she wasn't experiencing severe pain. "I got up to walk to the living room and took my blood pressure but that was normal," Wheeler said. "My legs were feeling a little heavy." Doctors later determined the sensation was unrelated to the condition and was most likely a lingering effect of the epidural.
But a nagging feeling that something was wrong refused to go away. "I just didn’t feel great," Wheeler said. "I just had a feeling something bad was happening.
I couldn’t shake the impending doom feeling." Wheeler, who shares her daughter Madilyn with husband Tyler, asked someone to call 911. When paramedics arrived, most of her vital signs appeared normal, aside from an elevated heart rate that she attributed to panic. Nevertheless, they transported her to the emergency room for further evaluation.
By the time she reached the hospital, she said she felt almost normal again after receiving fluids in the ambulance. Initial blood tests appeared reassuring, but one result stood out: elevated D-dimer levels, which prompted doctors to order a CT scan. "When the results came in, the doctor ran in and said I had clots in my lungs," Emily said.
"Suddenly a bunch of nurses came in and started me on IV blood thinners immediately. The blood clots indicated a pulmonary embolism, which a potentially life-threatening blockage in one of the arteries that carry blood to the lungs. It occurs when a blood clot blocks one or more arteries in the lungs and can make it harder for blood to flow properly and the body to get enough oxygen.
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