Clare Foreman was 34 weeks pregnant and relaxing on her couch when she experienced sudden agonizing pain in her leg and abdomen.
The mom-to-be had experienced on-and-off pain in her left leg throughout her pregnancy, but a seemingly harmless movement on the couch led to a medical emergency that would almost take her life.
“I felt a pop, and there was intense pain from my leg up into my abdomen,” she told The Courier Mail.
“My leg went a different color and started to swell up immediately, and we knew it was time to go to hospital.”
Mom’s life saved by groundbreaking surgery
Once at hospital, Clare would be diagnosed with a potentially lethal, foot-long blood clot in her deep femoral vein.
She was treated with blood thinners, but that didn’t improve her symptoms, so doctors had no choice but to perform a groundbreaking surgery to save both mom and baby’s lives.
The Courier Mail reports the surgery, which used a Inari ClotTriever device, was achieved through a one-centimetre incision, and was done by vascular surgeon Dr Danny Hagley.
Clare’s baby Isabel had been delivered days beforehand via emergency caesarean, and she went under the knife for her “very dangerous” condition.
“A multidisciplinary team of specialists worked together to ensure Isabel’s safe arrival, while making sure Clare’s health and wellbeing was not compromised,” Dr Hagley told The Courier Mail.
“Prior to her DVT surgery, we put a clot filter in via Clare’s neck to minimize the chance of clotting moving to her heart and lungs.”
“It had all been so scary”
The ClotTriever device uses a mesh blanket which is inserted directly into the vein and surrounds the clot, making it safe to remove.
Dr Hagley said Clare would have had “significant risk of bleeding” or would have undergone major open surgery without the device.
Clare and Isabel are now both home and healthy, and Clare knows how lucky they both are to have had such great care in hospital.
“My husband Stuart and I both cried tears of relief once we knew how the problem was going to be dealt with,” she told The Courier Mail.
“It had all been so scary.”
