Pamela, 69 and her boyfriend, Warren, were visiting family in New York. While walking around the city, Pamela tripped and landed hard on her right knee. Within a few days after the fall a bruise below the knee became a dark, discolored leg. Pamela called her doctor in Florida to explain what was going on with her leg. The plan was for an x-ray and evaluation once she and Warren arrived back to Florida in the coming days.
Pamela was packing for the flight home when she suddenly could not breathe. She slid of the couch laying on the floor in the fetal position thinking to herself “I don’t know what this is, but this could be the end for me. I could feel the life draining from me.” Sweating, out of breath and scared for her life, Warren comes into the room to help her up. Her hand was cold to his touch. Warren calls 911.
She was unconscious when police officers and paramedics arrived. At the hospital, she vaguely remembers someone talking in her ear asking her to sign a healthcare proxy that would give Warren decision making authority.
Dr. Ralph Caselnova, interventional cardiologist, explains to Warren that Pamela is in critical condition and getting worse. He explains to Warren that tPA is what they must use to help stabilize her. Warren knew what tPA was and shared his concern on the risk of a stroke. Dr. Caselnova tells Warren there is another treatment option using the FlowTriever system to remove the blood clots from her lungs without the use of tPA. Warren says do it.
An hour and half after Pamela was taken back to the cath lab Dr. Caselnova comes out shaking his head. Warren is sure Pamela passed away. “Just tell me what you got to tell me doc” said Warren. Dr. Caselnova responds “I cannot believe how good that worked. It was amazing. A game-changer. It was unbelievable. She was getting better while on the table”. She was discharged from the hospital five days after the procedure. It was thought the hard fall caused a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in her leg that resulted in the PE.
Pamela has two children, Dylan (29) and Suzie (30), with her late husband of 35 years who died six years ago. Dylan has autism and lives with Pamela in Florida. She tells me “When I walked in my home and got a big hug from Dylan I totally lost it. I was overwhelmed with emotion. I could not hold anything back.” She goes on to say “It was all thanks to your company and the FlowTriever device that I was able to come home to see my son. I know it would be a different story had Dr. Caselnova not used FlowTriever. It was fate.”