David was 40 and had no recognisable signs or symptoms to make him think he had a DVT or PE.

The people who were really saved that day, was my family.

All thanks to the Medical Team in Critical Care ward 6 in the New KOC Hospital in Ahmadi, Kuwait.

It’s still strange looking back. I’ve never smoked, no family history, genetics are negative, protein and minerals were all good. Walking around 5-13km a day for the two weeks before. It was unprovoked and no signs or symptoms to make me think.

In the end, I was able to see my oldest Daughters graduation.

I turned 40 in the January. In April 2019 I was at my work in the Deserts of Kuwait, having travelled in from the UK almost two weeks beforehand, (my family were all in the UK).

Nothing was out of place, atypical Monday morning. I got up at 5am, and stretched, as I did so, I felt like I pulled a muscle in my ribs, up high, but I carried on and did my usual morning tasks.

I went to the 8am morning meeting and went back to my office to get some deep heat to put on the chest muscle - it wasn't painful now unless I touched it. Like any rib injury it was painful when I breathed in, but as I have had injured ribs before, it wasn't more than that.

I was walking around when my watch started ringing an alarm sound

I was walking around when my watch started ringing an alarm sound I hadn't heard before, and it seemed to be vibrating, strange I thought. This happened a few times throughout the day, but I didn't feel bad and believed it to be an issue with the watch, so ignored it. It happened again and again, "High Heart Rate Alarm"… in fact it alarmed 13 times on the Monday.

Tuesday:
The same pattern, as I had been putting deep heat on the painful area it was easing off, but I was shallow breathing, so I took the day off to help the chest muscle recover. I didn't have any other symptoms to tell me anything was about to go wrong.

the medic’s reply is what got me thinking

To try find out why my alarm was going off, I went to the on-site Medic, he took my blood pressure and told me it was 150/90 (I said that’s high for me!) the medic’s reply is what got me thinking, my watch wasn't faulty he told me, "your BP isn't as concerning, your heart rate is, your rate is 160bpm".  This got me concerned, but there were no pains or other sensations anywhere else in my body.

From playing sports I had breathing exercises I could do (I didn't really feel short of breath) so after another eight hours, taking paracetamol and using deep heat gels, the chest pain had almost gone away.

At 8pm that night I had the benefit of the full effects of the pain medication and gels. So, I decided to do some exercises. I did these sitting, standing, sittings and lying down a few times. It then, at this point I was starting to feel a "fuzzy head" but still I never really thought much of it. I was more focused on my heart rate as my watch wouldn't stop alarming off and was really capturing my attention!

Suddenly I realised, it wasn't my heart, it was my lungs that were shutting down

Suddenly I realised, it wasn't my heart, it was my lungs that were shutting down!! My father had lung disease, and I suddenly saw similarities in our breathing. At that point I knew I needed help and to needed get to a major hospital for scans.

It was then that I started to cough; as it went on it became uncontrollably, lasting for over five and a half hours and by the end it was more like a ‘bark’ dry and sore, and I could taste blood. All the time my watch continued to keep sounding the alarm, in fact in the 24hrs my watch’s alarm went off 22 times!

Finally, after the coughing fit, I went to bed and a while later eventually got to sleep but I could hear my chest crackle in the background.

Wednesday Morning 5:45hrs:
Awake, I called the Medic and told him to come ASAP as something was wrong and I needed to help. He organised the ambulance driver who also loaded my car while I got dressed.

I needed 5-15 minutes to catch my breath

At this point I was breathless! It took me almost two hours to get two socks, trousers and a t-shirt on! After each move, I needed 5-15 minutes to catch my breath. When I finally moved the 15 feet from my bed to my office, I felt that I had run a marathon that I never trained for and had to breath really hard. So the thought of walking to my car was a huge mental challenge, even though it was only about 20 feet, and that mental challenge was putting me off going to the hospital as I still didn't think it was that bad! I had no pain or other symptoms….

Being in a foreign country, I had my cards with me, my residency etc.. and on the way down I noticed my Insurance Card had expired! I couldn't believe it. As I had caught my breath I decided to go to the office and collect my new one after confirming it was there.

I walked up the ramp but used the handrail as if it was a rope

The ambulance driver collected the insurance and we proceeded to the hospital. On arrival, the driver stopped at the bottom of the wheelchair ramp, as I got out the car, it was over 40 degrees and I instantly started to breath harder. I walked up the ramp but used the handrail as if it was a rope, pulling myself hand over hand. Finally, I got to the top, but I felt really dizzy and knew I was going to pass out if I didn't sit down quickly. I found a seat and fell onto it. When the ambulance driver arrived, I told him I needed a wheelchair, I couldn’t move further.

He took me to the reception, only to find out, I wasn't in the hospital!! I was in a GP Clinic. I couldn't believe it! I was so deflated. I asked to see a doctor, someone had to be there. One of the porters had seen me struggling and took me to a Minor Injuries Treatment room where I was seen by three nurses who put all the sensors on me, this is when it all came to light.

As the monitors went on, the scale of it was seen

As the monitors went on, the scale of it was seen, the nurses shouted for a doctor who on walking in took one look and said, “Phone an ambulance NOW" (my oxygen was at 70%, and my BPM was at 160-170).

all I could think was, "That’s nice of them."

Within ten minutes the paramedics were there and transferring me to the Company Hospital 3 km away, the nurses came with me and all I could think was, "That’s nice of them."

In the Hospital:
The ED were expecting me, I was seen by seven nurses and four doctors who seemed to swamp the bed. Nurses were putting in IV lines while another was putting on sensors all over. All I could say was, "Doc, look at my lungs, they are shutting down! Forget everything else, fix my lungs, something is wrong.” I had seen it on my dad and now my breathing had got even worse.

Doc, look at my lungs, they are shutting down

One of the doctors stood back and called in the Critical Care doctor from the ward. I was on 15litres of oxygen per minute, and as I was breathing in, I was taking a deep breath, that emptied the flow, but as I lay there, STILL no pains, tightness or tingling etc, just a very fuzzy head.

As the tests all came back negative, the only symptom I had they could confirm was right heart strain and an incomplete heartbeat. Still I'm saying, "Look at my lungs, it’s my lungs, fix my lungs" At this point a doctor said "I have a theory, but you must be admitted to allow me to conduct tests. All I could reply was "Doc hurry!"

They grabbed the bed and ran it into the Critical Care Department where I was received by a Respiratory Specialist who instantly saw my struggle. He asked if I would be willing to go on a CPAP ventilator, at this point I was gasping.

This was then put on at 2000ltrs a minute and whaw! no more stress of breathing!! Now I had to calm myself as my stress levels were building and I was on the verge of going unconscious. I had been breathing hard for around three hours at this point.

They made all my monitors and ventilator system mobile, and again kept feeling my legs, I felt I was getting short at this time, I just said "Doc, I have no symptoms of a DVT that I am aware of." He said "Ok, you know what I'm looking for?”

I said “YES there is nothing I'm aware of, but look at my lungs!" he said "Don't worry we are" and at that point I was rushed for an emergency CT Scan with contrast, as I was moved back down to the CCU and went in the doors of the room.

A doctor turned with an empty vile and asked, "Can I give you this?" He thought I said "No" on two occasions, and looked at me very sincerely and said, "You have no idea of the gravity of the situation, you ARE dying!"

Now my Scottish Accent, and what sounded like a three phase compressor in the background, made it hard to understand me - I pulled the ventilator off and said as loudly as I could, "What the hell you waiting on, give me it." This was the TPA Clot buster which took three hours to inject.

I had taken a Saddle P.E

The others as well, to rapidly thin (reduce the stickiness) of my blood, and the doctor informed me I had taken a Saddle P.E, he said this is why it was so hard to breathe as it was blocking (other than a leak) BOTH my lungs.

Around 10 minutes after the infusion started, the doctor came back to my bedside and said "I don't know if you made it here in time, you best bring your family in." I had no family in Kuwait, and I wasn't going to say anything over the phone. I couldn't talk due to the ventilator.

I had to keep calm and focus on staying calm. The Respiratory Specialist who put me on the CPAP, helped by calming me down, my stress levels were creeping up to where I could feel them effecting my breathing, so maintaining control was the key to helping them help me, and the force of the CPAP, made breathing easy for me which allowed me to just focus on my rate of breathing.

Later he came back in again after looking at the testing in more detail, and informed me "You are critical, and only time will tell if this has worked."

From the start of the infusion, I had three doctors that would not leave the base of my bed. I later found out they were waiting on my Heart Stopping. Thankfully it didn't!

I remember focusing on staying alive for "one more minute" and kept that going for three hours.

That evening a team came in looking for other clots, I was scanned from the waist down to find a DVT behind my left knee. This had given me zero symptoms and to the millimetre my legs were the same size.

I was on the CPAP for a further four hours after infusion of the TPA, and on the Heparin injections for four days. I wasn't allowed to move due to the DVT.... total bed containment. Later I was put on Xarelto for two days prior to my release.

Thursday:
I was told that after reviewing everything they thought I had had no more than six hours to live. They gave me an analogy, “If you were a rock climber, you weren't just hanging on with one hand, you were hanging on with your fingernails. You were more critical than I can explain.”

One of the other doctors came in and said, “We will speak about you for a long time to come in this ward, you have been the most critical patient with no symptoms of a DVT or PE.”

I later found out that the low oxygen level was why any logical thinking went out the window.

I went back to my work (where I slept, as I was not allowed to fly) and I had to stay in the Middle East for a further ten weeks before going home. On an oil rig and all I could do was walk to the Mess room, and back.

I had limited contact with my family as I slept so much. I limited what I told my wife as there some things that I wouldn't say over the phone and I felt it best said standing in front of them.

For me, only my watch was the very first indicator that something wasn't right

Even till the point of the TPA Injection, I had zero outward symptoms other than the heavy breathing at the last few hours. For me, only my watch was the very first indicator that something wasn't right.

Fast forward from April, my memory has gone, I'm now seeking help from a Clinical Psychologist, due to the PE, I have total blocks of conversations, both what they said and them actually being there! This includes my kids attending various things and events at my house. I've lost part of my left lung due to scarring and there has been damage done to the pulmonary artery at the main branch. My heart still goes mad if I'm just walking.

I'm still trying to walk regularly even though the fatigue is beating me back

I now get pains in my legs when I'm sitting that I think would feel like a DVT, but I'm still trying to walk regularly even though the fatigue is beating me back.

Around ten days after I had my PE, my niece’s father died of the same thing! He was only 44 years old.

On the 26th Jan 2020, I went in and saw my attending doctor, during the conversation he said, "I don't know how you made it, I can only say luck."

No cause was ever found on why I had the DVT & PE and will be on medication for the rest of my life. But the main thing is, I'm still here!