This new hashtag #thxbirthcontrol really has my blood boiling.

Renee Malo opens up about nearly dying from blood clots caused by birth control

Written by: Renee Malo

I’ve been getting quite a few requests to tell my story about my experience on the birth control pill contraceptive. For those that want to know what exactly happened to me, what caused it, and what I will now carry for the rest of my life, keep reading. For those that don’t, keep scrolling because this is going to be long..lol. I’m in hopes of telling my story so that you may think twice about putting yourself, daughter, or granddaughter on this. Or maybe you will see the symptoms sooner than I did. This may save another life as mine was almost cut very short. I’m only 23 years old… **this does not mean that you shouldn’t use any form of birth control contraceptive, just ask a lot questions on the one your using and do your research**

On Thursday, June 16th, 2016, I woke up with leg pain that gradually started to shoot up and down my leg. It was very similar to my sciatic nerve pain (which I’ve had once before) so I brushed it off and continued on with the week working full time. But it wasn’t getting better and a week and a half went by.

On Monday, June 27th, 2016, I was at work and started “clearing my throat” as if there was something I needed to bring up. The day went on and I found myself coughing more and more and I still had the leg pain going on. I also teach music lessons and that night I was scheduled to do the last lesson of the year with them. Me being stubborn, I did them anyways but it still wasn’t getting better after taking a cough drop and putting a heat pad on my back during the lesson. After the lesson, I felt very weak and I noticed in the tissue that I was started to cough up blood. At about 9:00pm, I found myself propped up in our bed coughing up more and more blood in every cough. I was too dizzy to stand on my own and I was very achy all over. I then had Logan take me into Emergency. The doctor took a listen to my lungs and diagnosed me with Bronchitis with Hemotism (which would be the reason for the bleeding). They sent me home with an antibiotic and a prescription for a puffer. That night I did not sleep. I felt like I was drowning and it was getting worse and worse as the night went on.

 

Tuesday, June 28th, 2016, Logan had called his mom (since both of my parents were working) to see if she could go pick up my Antibiotics. She came to the house at about 8:00 am and was instantly jaw-dropped by the amount of blood I had coughed up and the color of my face. I was completely grey. She then suggested that we go to my family doctor for a 2nd opinion. From there my family doctor sent me for a blood test for coagulation and a chest X-ray. It then came back as looking like an pneumonia. They again gave me antibiotics and sent me home and said it could take up to 72 hours before I feel any better.

The next day, Wednesday, June 29th, 2016, we left at 5:00 am to Airdrie as we were heading to Kelowna for my brothers wedding on July 2nd. We were planning on staying in Airdrie to break up the drive. At this time, I still hadn’t slept, the blood in my cough was getting worse, I was coughing up about a Tablespoon of straight blood in every cough, I had a stabbing pain in my back from my right lung and I hadn’t ate nor drank anything. My brother and Logan suggested that since we were staying over in airdrie, why not go get a 3rd opinion? I was so sick of hospitals but they convinced me to go in and I’m still here today because of them. I was then taken by ambulance from the airdrie hospital to the Peter Longheed hospital in Calgary. From there, they took more blood work, scans, heart scans, ultrasounds and a CT scan and found out that I had severe blood clots in both legs and both lungs. They told me that if I hadn’t went in that night, I wouldn’t be here. I was then omitted in the ICU.

As you can imagine, Logan and I did not end up heading to Kelowna for my brothers wedding with all my family. I told my brother to head on without us.

On July 2nd (my brothers wedding day), Logan and I had just finished facetimeing with my family in Kelowna which was very emotional. On my way back to the bed, i ended up collapsing in ICU due to a lack of oxygen. I told Logan that I felt like I was going to faint and then face planted into my bed. Logan caught me and prevented me from hitting my head on the floor. Logan yelled for help and within 30 seconds, he said there was 10 people in the room including 5 doctors. They got me stable on the floor, moved me to the bed, then sternum rubbed me and I didn’t respond. They then did the cuticle push with a pen and I responded and pulled my hand away. They were happy to see that I responded. They then put in the breathing tube and intubated me.

Once the got me stable there, they sent me for an emergency CT Scan. They found that one of the clots had broke off from my left leg, went through the right side of my heart, into my lungs and blocked off my airway. They then told Logan that he needed to notify the family and tell my parents they needed to come asap. My parents and friends drove all through the night from Kelowna to get to me.

The next morning, they deflated the balloon Connected to the breathing tube to see if they could hear any air passing by the tube to indicate if I could breath on my own. They couldn’t hear any air moving past. They then told my parents and Logan that they were going to leave it in for another 4 hours then they were going to attempt to pull the breath tube. If I didn’t breath on my own once they pulled it, they would have a surgeon right there to prep me for open heart surgery.

4 hours past, and they started taking me off of the sedation. Once I started waking up a little more, they then pulled the tube. My parents and Logan gathered outside the door waiting and watching. They were happy and relieved when I gasped for my first breath without the tube. I then turned to them, my voice super hoarse, and said “God, I hated that thing” haha. I was then put on oxygen.

The next few weeks in hospital recovering were very tough. I had to relearn how to stand up, walk, and do stairs. It was awful. My legs were quadruple their normal size and they felt like they were going to rip open. They were growing 2cm per day. I couldn’t walk 3 feet without running out of oxygen and having to sit down. The clots in my lungs weren’t allowing me to take a full breath. I couldn’t cough, sneeze, talk for a certain period of time, or laugh without being in alot of pain. I also suffered from panic/anxiety attacks which I never had before.

It’s been 4 1/2 months since I ended up in hospital, and I am still recovering. My lungs are still not back to their full capacity and my legs are still swollen. They say, It could take up to 2+ years before I can get back to normal. I am now on blood thinners for the rest of my life with blood tests every week. But hey, I’m still here to talk about it right?? #thxbirthcontrol

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”