I’m Supposed to be Dead Today
By Erick Erickson
April 14, 2017
I am not supposed to be writing this. I am not supposed to be here. I am supposed to be six feet under, decomposing. One year ago today, I got wheeled into a cardiac ICU unit and treated for a stroke. I had not actually had a stroke, but a steady, slow accumulation of blood clots in my lungs to such an extent the doctors decided to treat me as if I had a stroke. They pumped tissue plasminogen activator into my body for a day before moving to other blood thinners.
I do not say lightly or hyperbolically that I should be dead. I just happen to be reminded of it regularly. The damage done to my lungs was, in small ways, permanent because of the length of time between passing the clots and discovering them. Occasionally now the wall of my chest cavity swells, presenting the same symptoms of passing clots. I have found myself in the emergency room several times since last year. Each time, except the most recent time, the attending physician always tells me he has never seen a case so bad where the patient lived. “You should be dead,” the doctor most often says.
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http://theresurgent.com/im-supposed-to-be-dead-today/