...
By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
0
Share
Newsweek is a Trust Project member
See more of our trusted coverage when you search.Prefer Newsweek on Googleto see more of our trusted coverage when you search.
A man who suffered what he thought was a muscle tear during a walk left a doctor stunned when the cause of his complaint was discovered.
Tyler M., a 42-year-old man from Orange County, California, is somewhat fortunate to be alive after what started out as an effort to become more active evolved into something very serious.
Read more: Compare the Top Health Savings Account (HSA) Providers
Read More on Wellness & Fitness
"So I normally walk around 8,000 steps a week but recently decided to increase that to a minimum of 10,000 daily," Tyler told Newsweek. "On the first day of doing this though I felt a tear or strain on the top part of my calf, but nothing else too crazy."
Tyler thought little of it at the time. "It hurt, but not enough to stop me getting my steps in," he said. "I did the 10,000 steps for two more days, after which I could tell something was off about my leg. It was hard to say but it felt injured instead of just strained."
Four days after the initial "strain," Tyler said he knew whatever was happening was "worse than a strain" as he was struggling to walk even 100 steps.
"My leg had swelled up a bit and there was low-level pain," he said.
Concerned, he went to an urgent care and was told to "ice and elevate" his leg as it was probably a tear or strain. However, the doctor did note that if it was still bad after a few days, they would need to get him checked out for a blood clot.
Read more: What Is a Health Savings Account?
This was the first time the idea of it being a blood clot was suggested. It was an understandable source of concern. According to the National Blood Clot Alliance (NBCA), 274 people die every day from blood clots in the United States.
...
According to NBCA, somewhere between 100,000 to 300,000 deaths from blood clots occur each year, a figure that is greater than the number who lose their lives to AIDS, breast cancer, and motor vehicle crashes combined. The nonprofit also notes that roughly 600,000 non-fatal cases of deadly blood clots occur each year, of which 60 percent are blood clots in the legs.
After a day of icing and elevating his leg, Tyler said he "could tell the swelling was still there and it didn't go down." So he went to the emergency room where a CT scan confirmed the presence of a "massive" blood clot in his leg.
He was then admitted for surgery where the true extent of his condition was discovered.
"The doctor who did the operation sure thought it was big," he said. " He looked relatively young, but he said it was the largest he had ever pulled out! I have had a hard time with the scale, but I believe it's about 48 centimeters."
...
Incredibly, the doctor was able to share a photo of the removed blood clot with Tyler. "I have no idea what happened to the actual clot," he said. "I asked the nursing staff and they joked that they kept it, but who knows."
Though it's scary to think what might have happened had the clot been left untreated, Tyler said the experience has been "empowering in a way."
"That thing couldn't kill me—I'm too strong!" he said. "Although it's also a stark reminder that I am getting older and I should be following healthier living habits to avoid things like this, but also to help recover quickly and efficiently if things like this do happen."
That sense of empowerment prompted Tyler to share his picture of the blood clot to Reddit last week, with the resulting post earning over 10.5 million views on the social media platform in just 48 hours, along with several messages from concerned Reddit users asking if he was okay.
Tyler is thankfully doing just fine, but he might want to ease up on the steps for a little while.
View 0 Comments
Submit Correction
View Editorial & AI Guidelines