1st Moderna shot

 

Exactly 2 weeks after my 1st Moderna shot, I developed symptoms of what I would much later find out was a DVT (deep vein thrombosis aka large blood clot behind my knee- about as long as a chapstick and as thick as a pencil). My symptoms of a DVT started over a month before I got officially diagnosed with a DVT. This DVT would break up some and travel to my right lung without me knowing I even had any clots, resulting in pulmonary embolism (blood clots in lungs). I have multiple clots in my right lung, with the biggest being in the saddle area of my main pulmonary artery. My doctor showed me 3 bigger clots from my CT scan on his computer and said there could be much smaller ones we can’t see- if you have more than 1 clot, they just say “multiple clots”. I did not know I had DVT and PE until 20 days after my 2nd vaccine, when I went to the ER on April 26th. I thought my calf/ankle symptoms were related to possible sciatica and I didn’t seek medical help until after my ankle swelled up and my lower leg skin became pink and tender (which was almost a month after my charley horse pain started). My hospital bill is $72,986.16 and the doctors will also bill separately. This has all been reported to VAERS. Here is the story leading up to reporting to VAERS after my 5 night stay in the hospital… 

I got my 1st Moderna shot on Tuesday, March 9th. Looking back at my Facebook posts from that day, I wrote “I didn’t feel the actual shot at all but during my drive home, my front shoulder area started hurting in a way it’s never hurt before. But that went away. So hopefully that was the worst!” Then later I wrote, “My upper shoulder had a weird pain about 30 minutes after getting it, but the pain went away pretty fast. Now only hurts if I press on the bandaid.” 

On Tuesday, March 23rd, exactly 2 weeks after my 1st vaccine shot, I was walking through the parking lot on my way into work (I’m a 2nd grade teacher) and suddenly I got a charley horse in my left calf. It only felt tight and painful when I took a step- if I stood still, it didn’t tighten or hurt. This went on for a few days before I Googled “charley horse only when walking”. DVT (blood clot) and sciatica came up as possible causes for weird calf tightness and pain. I thought it was probably just sciatica as I’m 36 and have occasional lower back pain and dealt with one really bad sciatica issue about 5 years ago. This charley horse pain persisted for weeks (and ended up definitely not being related to sciatica!). 

4 weeks after my 1st vaccine, I got the 2nd vaccine on Tuesday, April 6th. At this point, I did not know a blood clot had formed behind my left knee- I was still blaming my calf pain on possible sciatica. Here is what I wrote on Facebook about my 2nd vaccine- “Almost 24 hours after my 2nd Covid shot and I feel weird, but not horrible.. I woke up in the night twice shaking. I felt like I was hot but then when I took my blankets off, I was quickly freezing. I think I took ibuprofen and Tylenol once or twice in the night- for sure once. My arm is super sore and really hot at the injection site but I keep doing exercises and moving it as I heard that was good to do. I slept from 10:20 pm to 8:20 am (after sleeping 5 hours yesterday soon after I got the shot), only getting up this morning to Zoom with my students from home. Towards the end of Zoom, I started getting a headache and my head felt pressurized. So I took more Tylenol and now am relaxing on the couch and eating lunch. My head feels off but it’s not painful so that’s good- this weird feeling reminds me of how I felt when I was in insane altitude in Peru and I thought my head was going to float away. Lol 🤪 Pretty sure I’m going to sleep a lot more today.... 🛌 I know a few teachers are having a tougher time today so I’m thankful I can manage with what I’m going through. My biggest hope is to not have to call a sub!!!” and then I wrote, “About 43 hours since my 2nd vaccine.. Super sore joints- stepping into my bathtub and walking down my stairs was rough! My arm is hot to the touch and feels like a baseball under the skin- it’s also getting more red and spreading out more as time goes on. All I’ve done is sleep since the vaccine and hoping to sleep more today after teaching online. 🛌” I took some pics of my arm because it was so red and swollen. 

On Friday, April 9th, 3 days after my 2nd vaccine, I headed south in my car to my best friend’s house for a birthday celebration weekend. The drive was 2 hours. When I got out of the car and stood on my feet, the pain was soooo intense in my calf that I leaned against my car and cried for a few minutes. I had never felt pain like that in my lower leg. I assumed at this point the pain was definitely sciatica since the other time my sciatic nerve got set off was after driving for a while and the pain subsided some after standing up for a bit. I took lots of pain killers and put on a happy face for the birthday celebration weekend. 

On Sunday, April 11th the birthday celebration group went to breakfast. When I stood up from breakfast, the insane calf pain was back and my foot started dragging whenever I walked. I had to concentrate really hard on getting my foot to not drag. My best friend saw this and said she was taking me to her local urgent care immediately.  I actually let her drive my car, which is something I NEVER let anyone do, so I could lay back in my passenger seat and stretch out my leg. By the time we got to urgent care, I could move my foot more normally so I told her I wasn’t going in and it was probably just sciatic issues. We then went to her house where I iced and heated my calf for a few hours while sleeping on and off. I also texted my RN (registered nurse) sister that day with this text message, “Sooo I’m pretty sure it’s not a blood clot. 3 weeks later and the pain is still there. It’s my sciatic I’m pretty sure. The pain gets worse after sitting.” Oh how I would soon find out I was wrong with thinking it was sciatica.. 

On Monday, April 12th I sent this email to my primary care physician, “I've been having lower back pain forever that comes and goes but for the 2nd time in my life, my sciatic nerve is acting up. The pain and symptoms in my left leg have lasted almost 3 weeks this time around- last time it resolved a lot faster. Do we have a back pain/sciatic pain doctor that I could see? I can no longer sit down without pain in my knee and calf that is now going to my ankle and foot. Life is now all about standing up or laying on my side that isn't hurting. My friend drove me to urgent care in her town this weekend but the pain subsided during the drive as I put my seat down flat so I didn't check in.” My primary care physician emailed me back saying I would have to schedule an appointment with him. At this point, I was still mistaken that my issue was sciatica. 

A week and a half later, I went to my doctor’s office for another issues (possible UTI) on Wednesday, April 21st. While there, I noticed my left ankle and lower leg was swollen and the skin looked pink. My leg was also super tender when I touched it. I tried to show the doctor treating me (not my normal primary care physician) and he said to just watch it and see if it gets worse. I was pretty freaked out my one ankle was swollen as I normally don’t get swollen ankles. 

For the next few days, the swelling got worse. My skin got more tender. I shared pics with my RN sister of my swollen left ankle compared to my normal right ankle and she said I should go get a vein ultrasound to rule out DVT. My step sister, who is a doctor but doesn’t live nearby, also encouraged me over the phone to get checked out for a possible DVT. I often ask my RN sister and doctor step sister for medical advice. 

On Monday, April 26th at about 8 pm, I went to the ER saying I possibly had a blood clot in my leg. No one took me seriously as my lower leg and ankle didn’t look THAT BAD and I had to sit around for hours. The ER doc said I probably just injured my ankle and sent me for an X-ray. I knew I hadn’t injured my ankle. I was repeatedly told I’d have to go home and come back the next day because the vein ultrasound people who could check my leg left work at 8 pm. Finally the doc said she’d do a blood test (d-dimer) that would most likely show I don’t have a blood clot and then I could go home. Wellll, the results from my d-dimer blood test were off the charts. 119 to 500 is normal and my result was 3,517.07!! FINALLY the doctor believed that I probably did have a DVT in my leg. She told me I’d have to come back tomorrow for the DVT ultrasound but they’d check my lungs with a CT scan to be safe before releasing me for the night. Once those CT results of my lungs came back, all hell broke loose at about 12:05 am on Tuesday, April 27th and then things moved a LOT quicker medically! The ER doctor realized I had multiple clots in my lungs and I was immediately admitted into the hospital, put on a heart monitor in a room where I’d be monitored 24/7, and given Heparin blood thinner through an IV. Furthermore, my CT scan also showed “prominent right axillary lymph nodes present measuring up to 15 mm in short axis”.  At the end of my CT scan write up by the doctor interpreting my results, it said these exact words: 

1.   Multiple right-sided pulmonary emboli identified. No evidence of right ventricular strain.

2.   Shotty adenopathy in the right axilla. This may be due to recent Covid vaccination. Recommend clinical correlation.

 

I didn’t actually get my leg ultrasound until many hours later so I first was diagnosed with PE and then later also diagnosed with DVT (I have a blood clot behind my left knee that is as long as a chapstick, but as thick as a pencil). I stayed until Saturday, May 1st at the hospital (hence the nearly $73,000 hospital bill). 

My main doctor for the 5 days I was in the hospital put in my discharge notes under risk factors for PE & DVT: “RECENT RECEIPT OF THE mRNA VACCINE (WHICH MAY HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO HYPERCOAGULABILITY)”. My doctor said we don’t know enough about the vaccine to say definitely whether it was or was not responsible for my blood clots. We talked about reporting it to VAERS- he said I should contact the clinic that administered the vaccine. I had 27 vials of blood taken during my stay and everything has come back showing I don’t have any blood clotting disorders or other blood issues. I’m negative for Factor V Leiden. 

Once home, I called the clinic that gave me the vaccine to report my symptoms to the chief nursing officer so she could report it to VAERS (the place that administrated the vaccine had to report to VAERS said my hospital doctor). The chief nursing officer highly advised me to not get any more covid shots/boosters. At 36 years old, I never expected to experience blood clots…