Patient Profiles : Rhonda’s Profile
Rhonda’s Profile
On February 5, 2001, 41 year-old Rhonda slipped in the shower and broke her ankle.
“In my worst dreams, I never thought such a life-threatening and life-changing event would occur as the result of such a routine accident,” she told VDF.
The broken ankle required surgery. During recovery Rhonda was instructed to keep weight off her ankle and to keep the leg elevated. Four days after surgery she began to experience calf pain. Since she knew that trauma, surgery, or being immobile could lead to DVTs, she was a little worried and called her doctor. He thought the cramps were merely “charlie horses.” For six weeks, while confined to a wheelchair, Rhonda complained about her calf pain at every follow-up visit.
When it was time to begin walking again, she underwent physical therapy for assistance with her balance. The first evening after her first session, she felt a bad flutter in her heart and felt like passing out from weakness. After three days of feeling breathless whenever she moved, Rhonda couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. That evening, with severe pain in her chest and shortness of breath, she went to the emergency room.
Rhonda was correct. Something was very wrong -- she was diagnosed with a Pulmonary Embolus (PE) in her right lung.
After a week in Intensive Care, Rhonda was sent home, although she still had difficulty breathing and pain. She found herself increasingly anxious and irritable from the entire experience and the fear of a recurrence. After a year, the PEs were gone, but the two DVTs in her leg remained and she was told they are permanent.
Rhonda is on the daily medication Coumadin to keep another embolism from occurring. She also wears compression hose which are uncomfortable and in her words “thick, ugly, and hot!” At only 45, she had hoped her life to be back to normal, but it is far from that. Rhonda's leg swells, even with the hose, and aches almost constantly. The added pain from the swelling makes her miserable and hinders her quality of life. The things she always enjoyed -- housework, cooking, sewing, knitting, and quilting -- are not easy for her to do since sitting or standing for any length of time causes blood to pool in her leg. When Rhonda summarizes her experience she says, “The thing that hurts the most is that with earlier treatment there was every possibility that my DVTs would have completely resolved and my life would have returned to normal. I should have insisted on testing. So should you if you are at risk and have any symptoms.”
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