A Life of Words

Friday was the 10th anniversary of the passing of my dear ol’ Dad, Clark Lindsay Christlieb, at the age of 84 from one of the many cancer scourges, melanoma. We all miss him like we’d miss chocolate if it suddenly didn’t exist (of course, Dad loved it too!). He’s been in heaven for 10 years, but it feels more like 50.

Friday was also the day Dad’s youngest of two adopted sons, Frank Lindsay Christlieb, was diagnosed with an acute pulmonary embolism (PE), a blood clot in the lungs.

Yeah, me.

Just so you don’t all get too worried too quickly, knowing how serious and deadly PEs can be, I actually – and surprisingly, at least to me – feel fine. I’m at home, not in the hospital, although Kay and I are ready to go if my condition worsens. I’m being treated with anticoagulants (blood thinners – Xarelto). The symptoms that started Thursday when I was leaving work in Dallas (shortness of breath, tightness/achiness in my chest/arms) only occur when I’m exerting – so I’m trying not to do anything that would put stress on my lungs or heart.

To show you how large and nasty this stupid blood clot is, here’s an excerpt from the radiologist’s report after my CT scan late Friday afternoon. Despite all the big words, I think you get the gist. 😁

“Acute pulmonary thromboembolism involving the main pulmonary artery extending into the bilateral proximal lobar branches and segmental branches of the left upper lobe and right lower lobe” – the lobes refer to both lungs.

After a CT scan ordered “stat” by my primary care physician in SW Arlington, Dr. Minh Le, detected the clot and he called me with the results while I was driving from the imaging place, I swung by his office after 4:30 p.m. and he gave me samples of Xarelto. It “appears” we caught the PE early, so I feel good about my chances of surviving this, although I’m taking nothing for granted.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, about 33% of people with a PE die before they get a diagnosis and treatment. But for those who get early treatment, the mortality rate falls to about 8%. I’m one of the 900,000ish unfortunate folks in the U.S. who develop a PE every year. My dear college friend at Texas A&M and former Fort Worth Star-Telegram colleague Denise Richter died of a PE two years ago.

As for why this happened to me: We can’t really be sure, but it’s probably related to my fractured femur and surgery, which was Friday, April 26 – three months ago Friday. Many of you know I also had a deep vein thrombosis blood clot in the same leg in August 2020 – in an uncanny coincidence, also three months after I had surgery for a ruptured appendix.

I was very lucky that time, because the calf pain I’d had for two weeks was misdiagnosed at my (now former) PCP’s office. I self-diagnosed a DVT but couldn’t convince the nurse practitioner, who thought I had a muscle strain and wouldn’t send me for imaging. The day after that appointment, my calf swelled up painfully large, sending me that night after work to the ER, where I was properly diagnosed. I was also extremely lucky that DVT didn’t turn into a PE, because that’s often what happens when a chunk of a DVT breaks off – it ends up in the lungs.

Although I still have right leg pain from my femur injury, I don’t have any obvious signs of a DVT. It’s possible I have one somewhere in that leg and part of it went AWOL and flowed to my lungs. I was also reading online that when you break a bone in your leg and have surgery, a piece of fatty tissue can head lung-ward.

I obviously have a long ways to go before I can feel safe about this. But early in the ballgame, I have to feel blessed and grateful for several reasons. First, when I woke up Friday morning after having had the worrisome symptoms Thursday evening, I decided that before starting remote work, I’d take a walk to see if that brought on the same symptoms – and it did.

When I got home and slumped into a chair out of breath, Kay said I looked pale. For me to get winded on a relatively short walk, I knew something had to be wrong. That walk gave me the confirmation I needed to take action.

The next thing I did was call my new PCP, Dr. Le, to see if he could work me in that day. Thankfully, he was able to. Everything checked out – BP, heart rate, blood oxygen, even an EKG. As we talked about what to do, Dr. Le brought up the possibility of a PE, knowing my clot history and symptoms. He said I should have a CT scan just in case to check for a PE. Thank the dear Lord he did, or I’d have an untreated ticking time bomb in my chest. Or … yes, THAT “or.”

Thank you all in advance for your love, support and prayers. Please send us all the clot-busting good vibes you can muster and pray the blood thinners will get rid of this @&$*%! monster. And since it’s a 100% certainty I’ll be on blood thinners forever (just like my thyroid medication!), pray they’ll keep the clots away and I won’t have any bleeding issues. Thank you and sending love back to you all! 😊 ❤