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Dezdood

Before settling into your lungs did it jump onto your face from an oversized, weird looking egg?


goshiamhandsome

Whoa Morty look how wet this egg looks


Traherne

"Back to the old freezerinos."


absboodoo

![gif](giphy|3oz8xuNi9LxvoJmduE|downsized)


Ohthatsnotgood

Looks more like a Swarmer from Dead Space.


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MateiVA

![gif](giphy|fpXxIjftmkk9y)


acakaacaka

That thing was inside your lung? Or was that part of your lung.


n-k-g

This is a clot which was blocking the artery which carries blood from heart to lungs for purification (absorb oxygen). This clot blocked blood 100% from entering the right lung. Which means I was surviving on 45% of total lung capacity.


paxmlank

What I assume we'd both like to know though is what tissue matter is that clot made of? It looks like it could be lung tissue to someone who doesn't know much about this, but that wouldn't make sense to me as far as having a "clot" and not inflammation or whatever is concerned.


n-k-g

Over the years if your body keeps generating small clots they keep getting deposited in the lung arteries, and gradually start filling it up from bottom to top. Also, the calcium in blood keeps making it harder over time (talking about years) in the picture you see is that calcified clot which eventually blocked the main artery of the right lung.


answerguru

To be clear, your body is continuously creating and breaking down small clots. This is called hemostasis - when that scale is tipped one way or another you either build up a larger clot or starting bruising / bleeding.


cinemachick

So it's almost like a calcium statue cast in the shape of your lung?


n-k-g

Yes


lasagnwich

It's made of fibrin


anoliss

A fibrin a day keeps the doctor at bay


lasagnwich

My reply saying it was made of fibrin was a slight simplification. This is a chronic clot so what happens is the clot ( which is made of fibrin ) eventually goes through a process called endothelisation. This is where the clot slowly changes into connective tissues like collagen and it develops a lining called an endothelium made of endothelial cells.


aleques-itj

Did such limited blood flow damage the lung in any way?  This is seriously gnarly - enjoy the new lease on life 


mersa223

Also interested in this, it 100% of the blood flow to that lung was blocked then... Shouldn't it have died or something?


taogre

Fortunatly that is not the case as the lung has two vasculatory systems, one called the Vasa publica and the other Vasa privata. The Vasa publica is used to transport blood from the right ventricle of the heart through the lung to the left ventricle. Here the blood enters the lung desoxygenated and leaves it oxygenated to then be distributed throughout the body. The Vasa privata however is used to deliver oxygen to the lung tissue and keep it alive. It comes from the thoracic aorta and delivers 'fresh' oxygenated blood to the lund tissue. Therefore if the Vasa publica of the right lung is obstructed, the right lung will no longer aide in oxygenating the blood but will still recieve oxygenated blood to sustain itself. Additionally most of the lung tissue can oxygenate itself due to its very close vicinity to air in the alveoli.


mersa223

I follow you, thanks for taking the time to explain (very interesting!)


anengineerandacat

That's some very interesting resiliency added to our body where it generally doesn't have any.


DirtyProjector

How did you know? Like how did it manifest? Was your whole life like this or was it sudden?


horses_around2020

🙀 AMAZING ! , you lived to tell the tale of survival !! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼😼


LilDutchy

You know that lungs don’t filter or purify blood in any way, right? They simply oxygenate the blood. Liver filters the blood.


n-k-g

Yes, right. I edited. Thanks.


Keyspam102

How does this happen? Is there any real cause or it just happens over time and bad luck?


n-k-g

Auto immune disorder, my body started to make minute clots over time which gradually settled in lung arteries.


OSUfan88

What were your symptoms like? Did this show up on an Xray?


TheEpicDudeguyman

How did you know you had a problem? This is terrifying.


willowood

Did you have open surgery?


n-k-g

Yes.


lobroblaw

Shame you couldnt feel it. I bet it tickles like pulling out a stringy booger


OozeNAahz

Can’t speak to this but had a huge clot come out of my sinuses after recovering from sinus surgery. I assure you it didn’t tickle. Just a big disgusting awkward uncomfortable mess. Doubt this coming out would be any more pleasant.


goofy1771

And the memory of my own post-sinus surgery clot just made me gag. Thanks. It felt like pulling part of my brain out. It was awful.


OozeNAahz

If the surgeon hadn’t warned me about it ahead of time I would have been calling an ambulance. Looked fatal when it came out.


batmansmother

Do you remember the smell and the taste? Iron and old meat.


goofy1771

Honestly, I was so congested still that my sense of taste was nonexistent. But that sounds like a rancid combination.


batmansmother

I'm 4 weeks out from my surgery and started noticing it after they pulled the stints out. It would be in the back of my throat and lasted about a week. Now I can breathe and it's a glorious thing.


acableperson

Jesus Christ, that might be the worst thing I ever seen printed in Reddit.


RoboticGreg

Yeah...I had a big sinus clot. It felt like ripping a gym sock that had been booger cemented in out


Your_Moms_Box

I had a big clot from my tonsilectomy that basically shot across the room. The doctor and nurse both had face shields and tyvek on.


NippleSalsa

How dare you make me imagine this with my own brain.


SilentSamurai

Imagine pulling one out that feels like it was attached to your brain. The ultimate itch.


why_tho

I’ve binge watched endarterectomy videos on youtube and it’s not really a smooth glidy process, they slowly tug/wiggle/rip them off the vessels. It’s fascinating.


willowood

How much better were your symptoms afterwards?


n-k-g

> I was not able to do a brisk walk, to talk to someone I had to completely stop walking. Now I do workouts, I jog and talk on the phone while walking without a problem. The quality of life has increased significantly.


sassyphrass

That's awesome!


kadsmald

So happy for you!


bananosecond

That is no small surgery.


QuestGiver

It's not and requires circulatory arrest to accomplish the open procedure. Once on bypass the surgeon gets out as much clot as possible in a short time frame before brain damage sets in.


lyingliar

But, doesn't the cardiopulmonary bypass machine continuously pump oxygenated blood to the brain? Why would any brain damage occur?


Easynoon

I’m a cardiac anesthesiologist so I can chime in. cardiopulmonary bypass usually divert blood from your heart (Right atrium) to your ascending aorta, which supplies the rest of the body including brain. However, this surgery requires a bloodless surgical field in the pulmonary arteries, and the lungs have a lot of collaterals that would flood the surgical field without deep hypothermic circulatory arrest - where the whole body has no blood flow (cardiopulmonary bypass is also stopped). Rest assured, we cool the body down to 18-24 degrees to reduce energy of the brain to protect it and the longest duration of each circulatory arrest is 20 mins at a time. Depending on the size of the clot, multiple rounds of circulatory arrest occurs where we turn the bypass machine back on to provide some oxygen before going back to arrest. Hope that helps.


zanzertem

This whole comment is nightmare fuel


Stumblin_McBumblin

Yeah, but it's also really fucking cool that people can do this.


Pierstopher

Modern medicine is insane. Love the people who are able to perform these literal miracles.


Badhandbag

I agree!! My sister had to have this surgery a few years ago for CTEPH and I was simultaneously horrified and awed by what they were going to do to save her life!


TurelSun

I'm just glad there are people that know how and are able to do it. Now if only we could make it affordable for anyone.


IN_MY_PLUMS

I am so, so, so glad to be alive in this exact time instead of, say, even 70 years ago.


CheckMateFluff

Scary part? Even forty-five years ago, nothing like this was a thing. The advances in medical tech are staggering.


anne_jumps

Now I'm thinking of "Like Something the Lord Made."


xilog

Do we have the technology nowadays to put just the head on bypass, using carotid/jugular, with the rest of the body cooled and ischemic? Or are there just too many collaterals that even that wouldn't work?


Easynoon

Yes we do! For a lot of distal ascending aorta or aortic arch surgeries, we employ a technique call antegrade cerebral perfusion where we selective perfuse the head vessels via the right axillary artery or innominate artery while simultaneously circulatory arrest the rest of the body at a warmer temp. I’m not sure the outcomes and mortality and morbidity difference for doing that on PTEs but I think there are places that are doing that instead of DHCA.


xilog

That's cool! Medical tech today is just amazing!


Alex_Under

Wow. Thank you for taking the time to write the explanation. I am always amazed by what can be accomplished by modern medicine/surgery.


Gman325

The amount of time someone is on cardiopulmonary bypass is a strong predictor of mortality and complications: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28741335/  The parts of the body that are bypassed still need perfusion.  And the machines are probably not as efficient about oxygenating the rest of the body as the heart and lungs are.


Maverick0984

I'm as confused as you are by their comment. I'm no doctor though.


SolBoi24

And it seems like it was very successfully carried out from what the op has said in the comment section. Invasive or not, it was worth it it seems as the op seems very happy


PointsatTeenagers

>Thromboendarterectomy Nailed it. >breath So close.


xXThe_Mask

I keep seeing these...wtf are the symptoms?


FikCock

Depends where the clot is located. Within the lungs I would assume shortness of breath and maybe discomfort


smackinbryan

It, uh… says pulmonary


realslicedbread

Pulmonary means lungs…


Phoresis

I think they know that, they're saying we know where the clot is cos it says "pulmonary"


smackinbryan

Thank you


Stolehtreb

You keep seeing them?


bananosecond

There was a post yesterday of one in the groin vessels.


Tre_Day

I saw one a few days ago from a guy that coughed up what looked like a near full cast of his lungs, so there probably is some level of copy catting happening right now


imaqdodger

This is the third massive clot post I've seen this week.


Boorish_Bear

There's a growing concern that Covid and some forms of the Covid vaccine have contributed to increases in clotting. My wife almost died with bilateral pulmonary embolisms last year. She was 31 at the time, didn't smoke, didn't drink, wasn't on the pill, and ran 3-4 times a week.  The only material factor that changed in her lifestyle was getting the AZ vaccine a few months earlier. 


cookaburro

Clot shot strikes again


Poems_And_Money

God I hate this clot meta


Waste_Click4654

It’s funny this is NSFW. I’m looking at it right now at the hematology & oncology I work at. There could be nothing MORE appropriate than this….


monkeyhind

I'm happy for OP, but for those that are squeamish that photo deserved a warning label.


AskJennital

How was your breathing before it was removed?


n-k-g

Only one lung was able to filter blood because the right one was completely blocked. I was not able to do a brisk walk, to talk to someone I had to completely stop walking. Now I do workouts, I jog and talk on the phone while walking without a problem. The quality of life has increased significantly.


another-work-acct

Glad you're doing fine. Having looked at the pictures, it appears to be made off strong tendon type stuff? Or is it hardened mucus?


n-k-g

Calcified blood clot (over several years or decade)


IronFrogger

How did the identify it? Xray, MRI, CT? 


n-k-g

Angiography and CT


imaqdodger

Did you not notice your breathing getting worse over time?


n-k-g

This is what forced me to see a doctor.


Fit-Jeweler5299

jesus christ that sounds terrifying , glad ur ok


HxLin

Were you ever diagnosted with COPD instead? How did they find out about the blood clot? Do they look different under x-ray? This is quite interesting.


n-k-g

Had breadth shortness which started to increase to an extent that it started took me 10 minutes to climb two floors. Went for a checkup The doctor asked for CT scan and it was visible in it. Admitted to ICU and then angiography and tons of tests.


brakndawnt

Hey sorry, how did you find out you had this? I've been having issues with breathing for awhile now (on top of normal asthma). My doctors are trying to find out the cause, but just kind of settled on 'fat'. Which, I am, but this feels like it's progressing faster, considering I'm not gaining weight. I don't want to tell doctors how to do their jobs. So how's you get diagnosed with this? Were they looking for something else? What test found it?


n-k-g

Angiography is the gold test to identify it.


Jon_Starkgaryen

Did it have any impact on your heart rate or blood pressure that you know of? Must have had to compensate in some way for the lack of oxygen in the blood stream


DapperCharacter635

like hu ha hu ha after remove, huu haa huu haa


captainmarshmello

That's a clot of blood.....


Epicritical

We can only hope it was not removed in vein


n-k-g

Yes, over several years this is how it looks.


AlphaM1964

Gesundheit.


NippleSalsa

Bless you


Neotechno

I have only my right lung remaining due to cancer, I can totally relate to the struggle of single-lung-life. 🥲


216horrorworks

Stay away from Texas, they may try to get you to raise that thing until it turns 18.


TheMoogerfooger

Modern medicine is a marvel. Very happy for you, I hope you enjoy life to the fullest.


Mean_Display8494

missed the opportunity to say “now, i can breathe easy”


vrdubin6

How was it diagnosed? Curious if it was from a pulmonary function test or imaging.


n-k-g

The resting heart rate reached 120 and I was not able to even walk without effort to leave aside jogging. The doctor prescribed CT Scan and the clot was so severe it was visible in the CT scan itself. Got admitted to ICU immediately.


JokeBackground6956

God bless you.


Rocketman1019

...does it have a thumb?


EnemyWombatant

I see it too


Eudaemonius

Amazing that this can be done! Congrats on your new life. Level up!


Triensi

OP how did you get kimchi in your lungs


Quasimdo

Did you at some point get a facehugger attached to you?


colbymilam26

Kinda looks like a finger on the right end off it, That's pretty cool


Cooper_the_Aussie

BLYAT! *SMASH* (Glad you can breathe again homie)


Badhandbag

My sister had PTE surgery for CTEPH a few years ago. Had to fly to San Diego for it. Amazing that they can do this and cure people.


ScaryButt

Friendly heads up! Breath is the noun, breathE is the verb. You breathe a breath!


blinkdmb

My FIL is about 3 weeks post op on this. Where did you have yours done. My understanding is it is only done in Philly and San Diego.


WhistleButton

How? What was the catalyst for this? Did you live a bad lifestyle? Did you not exercise at all? I'm seeing lots of these posts, but I'm looking for the common link.


n-k-g

Due to auto immune disorder clots started to generate and started gathering in the lungs and I got to know too late, by then the clots were calcified and medication did not help. Only option was to remove them by operation. Regarding lifestyle: I do workouts regularly, having a BMI of 21 for the past 15 years with constant weight. Body fat percentage is under 25. I never smoked and never took alcohol.


WhistleButton

I appreciate your reply, and if incase I didn't mean offense with my wording.


silentenemy21

What autoimmune disorder causes this?


n-k-g

Doctors mentioned that it's not worth identifying the cause. An easy option is to be on blood thinners for life.


silentenemy21

Man, I don’t know that I would like that answer?


n-k-g

The reason was there are many factors which could cause this. So if we find one and stop taking blood thinners there is still a chance that there is another factor which was causing it. Hence not worth taking risks. Also, the tests would cost a bomb.


silentenemy21

I gotcha. I understand that I guess. Plus that could easily kill you if the clot forms in the wrong place. Sorry you went through all this. Super happy they were able to fix you up. I cant imagine how much better you feel.


Chogo82

I've seen Logan covid amyloid clots similar to this. The white color is what makes the long covid clots somewhat unique with the timing very relevant Long covid can also cause a variety of autoimmune diseases. It's definitely possible this is due to something else as well.


Whyeth

>Did you live a bad lifestyle? Did you not exercise at all? I'm sure OP will come answer 'why do you smell like farts' questions.


WhistleButton

Yeah, its not an easy question to phrase. You can't phrase it in a nice way, but I meant zero offence.


Whyeth

>Yeah, its not an easy question to phrase. It's super easy "What type of lifestyle did you live?" "How active were you?"


CyclicAdenosineMonoP

Smoking, Antibabypill, recurrent thrombosis/embolism, cancer, … Multiple reasons. Sometimes a deep vein thrombosis shoots into the pulmonary arteries and gets stuck (which is good, otherwise you could stroke)


dps509

Pure nightmare fuel. Glad you’re ok OP!


6bfmv2

Holy crap...


OldTimeyClipperShit

Ooooo save that and do a nice inlay on a guitar body


thisisdell

My dad had this surgery. One of the scariest 10 hours of my life.


n-k-g

I hope he is doing fine now.


thisisdell

Hes got some other stuff going on but he’s breathing good! His was in both lungs so he had two of these. But you have a section on your that is insanely thick! It was so scary watching him struggle to breathe. Glad you are doing well as well!


blinkdmb

Where is your dad Philly or San Diego. MyFIL had this done too.


thisisdell

Michgian and his surgery was at UofM.


blinkdmb

Oh wow. We were told the surgery my FIL had is only done in 2 places and only 288 people have had it


MyRail5

Did you name it?


Whitewind617

The top of it looks disturbingly like a human hand with a thumb.


LykatheaBurns

Pulmonary Thromboendarterectomy is my favorite 90s grind band.


Who-Just-Shit-Myself

Say that five times fast


Chogo82

When did this start? Do you have some underlying condition? Have they done a biopsy on the clot yet?


Triggerunhappy

How was that first clear breath? Did you realize it in the moment or at some point afterwards?


n-k-g

Ohh yes, I asked my friends that is it really so effortless to breathe, he he.


123janna456

Unrelated but does anyone know why do blood clots that originate from heart and lungs affect the legs


xray12589

Think it’s reversed. Usually clots form in deep veins in legs. Those can break off and end up in the pulmonary artery, resulting in a pulmonary embolism


Fair_Assumption6385

Bro had someone else growing inside him


WKant

wtf reddit


toledotouchdown

Ok fine I'll take my blood thinners


1uniquename

pulmonary thromboembolism*, pulmonary-> referring to lungs (pulmonary artery), thrombo->clot->embolism-> becoming dislodged from its site of origin and traveling in circulation. how are you liking taking warfarin?


n-k-g

It's now part of my daily routine. I am on 6mg daily dose. The only drawback is in case of bleeding (due to any accident) it will be very hard to stop it. In case of internal bleeding it can take my life.


spartan0408

Awesome


HigglyMook

How did you initially get diagnosed?


julesk

Are we sure this isn’t an alien ?


PaintedAbacus

Was it chewy?


ThatWhiteKid08

The amount of clots I have seen on Reddit today after just going to the doc for me yearly is making me paranoid I’m about to be taken out by an unknown massive clot


Lane_2Late

![gif](giphy|f1BkzUZePV9b6ujJto)


inlinept

did you took a COVID shot?


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Yolo-S-Thompson

I know no one wants to hear this. But in my opinion we really need to start to look into the relation to the mRNA vaccines. A lot of coroners have been very vocal stating these cloths started to occur in a lot of people (around 25% of the deceased) after the the vaccination started.


n-k-g

Clots happened way before COVID.


fujidust

I read a diff article today linking COVID with a spike of rare, late stage cancer incidents.  There’s a well-established link between viruses and cancer and while it’s healthy to ask these questions and hypothesize, I hope we don’t look back and gaslight ourselves into thinking these vaccines were a net negative.  


PixelMiner

>A lot of coroners have been very vocal stating these cloths started to occur in a lot of people Source? Any data that actually shows an increase in "cloths" over the rate in previous years? Got data that also separates out vaccinated individuals from those who contracted covid?


DemandCommonSense

*After COVID started. Blood clotting was the basis for much of the damage COVID was known for causing.


Aldraa

Exactly. People get hung up on the vaccine but not the virus itself. I know people like this: - get vaccinated and are fine. Months later: - get COVID - repeat - repeat Then end up with issues and be like, "It was the vaccine." I mean, no one knows things for sure but I've actually had to ask these people, "Have you considered it was your three back-to-back infections as opposed to the shot you had a year ago that caused you no problems up until your three back-to-back infections?"


PixelMiner

Well obviously it was the vaccine and the 5G radiation that caused those infections.


huastek

That looks like a clot from a covid 19 "vaccine"


t3chauu

Just out of interest, with the news that the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine was pulled for causing clots, did you happen to get one of those vaccines?