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Well I finally have an update. I had a follow-up CT scan just before Christmas.
Due to the holidays the report was slow in coming, but I just got off the phone with my doctor.
He had some great news.

The CT scan showed that the clot in my lung is completely gone.

I will continue with the blood thinners until my current bottle is empty.
Obviously I am very happy and very pleased with the outcome. I will go
back in another six months and have another lung function test to establish
a new baseline.

Thank you all for your prayers, good thoughts and support.

Update - I just got back from an appointment with a pulmonary specialist.
He is going to keep me on blood thinners [no surprise] for at least three more months.
I have a follow-up appointment scheduled in December. So far so good.
I am feeling great so it looks like I will be hanging on to my boots for a while.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

WildBill wrote:

Oldgringo wrote:Take care of yourself. It's good to have you back.

Thank you. How are you holding up?

Glad you're back Bill.

Chas.

Thanks Charles. I'm glad to be back.

ELB wrote:WB, nice to read that you are back, and thanks for the report. Best wishes for an uneventful recovery!

Thank you.

Excaliber wrote:I'm traveling and didn't see this until today.

Bill, I'm very glad to hear you're is on the mend. You will most certainly be kept in my prayers.

We old dudes have to look after each other.

Thank you Ed. As we get older we can't rebound as quickly.

carlson1 wrote:We will continue to pray for you. If we can help please let us know.

Thank you Carl.

RogueUSMC wrote:DAGGUM! I read in one thread where you said "I don't take baby aspirin...it causes bad things..." The very next thread I saw said you was in the hospital...lol.

Good to see you out and around though. Maybe rethink the baby aspirin?...lol

That was already pointed out to me by another forum member.
I can not take aspirin with the new medication [blood thinner] that I am taking.

Pawpaw wrote:Welcome back, Bill. I'm glad you are on the road to recovery.

You gave us quite a scare, old buddy!

Thank you Pawpaw. It's great to be back. I hope to continue to be your old buddy for along time.

RPBrown wrote:Glad to have you back and even more glad that they caught it in time. The good Lord was watching out over you and this was his way of telling you to take it easy. Do what the docs say, get some rest and keep us informed. Continued prayers are being sent for your health.

Thank you. I read about your health problems in another thread so I offer my prayers for your healing. Please take care of yourself as well.

Oldgringo wrote:Take care of yourself. It's good to have you back.

Thank you. How are you holding up?

Jusme wrote:WildBill, glad your back, and on the road to recovery, please don't hesitate to reach out to us if we can help in any way. Hopefully everything will get back to normal soon.

Thank you for your offer. I just had six straight hours of good sleep, so that is helping.

WTR wrote:No place like home. Speedy recovery.

Indeed, no place like home. Thanks.

Flightmare wrote:Welcome back! Hopefully you get back to that routine soon. In the mean time, take it a bit easy.

Thank you sir.

As you have read, I am, thankfully, back home. I will explain a little about my medical situation, but first I would like to thank everyone for sending their prayers and good thoughts.
It really lifted my spirits when I read your posts and got some phone calls, texts and messages from some of you and other friends. I have had many offers of help
from some really great friends and I have taken up some of their offers. Fortunately I was able to grab my phone and charger and put them in my pocket before I ended up laying
on the floor waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Puma guy has been very supportive and came to visit and, as usual we had some good conversations As TAM mentioned, we
messaged each other several times through FB.

Sunday morning I got up and made some coffee and planned to get on the computer to check emails, but never made it. I didn't even get one sip before I started having shortness
of breath and starting sweating heavily. The spell lasted about 20 minutes. It was pretty scary not being able to catch my breath. After the spell ended I designed to go back to bed and lay
down for a while, but in about 5 minutes I starting having the same symptoms. I contacted EMS and requested an ambulance. The EMTs arrived fairly quickly, did whatever
they do and put me in the truck. They put in an IV and started O2. They checked vitals, did an EKG on and took me to the hospital. By the time we got to the hospital, I was feeling better.

The EMTs and I were convinced that I was dehydrated and that was causing my problems. I was dehydrated, but when I got to the ER they started to run some tests and found some other things.
Cutting to the chase, I have two blood clots in my lungs. They have been giving me steroids for my breathing, O2 and started me on blood thinners. During my treatment, my O2 levels went
from about 65 and is currently about 95% without being on O2. I will have to continue on the blood thinners for at least 4 months until the clots are gone. The thinner is also supposed to prevent
any new clots from forming. I have follow up appointments next week. Tests did not show any heart damage, clots in the heart, and no evidence of clots in my legs. I am very grateful about that.

I am pretty private about some things, including my health, but in the interest of maybe helping others, if anyone is has any questions fire away. I did not know anything about embolisms so it was a
complete surprise to me. Also, I am 66 years old and this is my first visit to the ER and my first hospital stay, so I have a good record avoiding the ER.

I could not sleep the whole time I was at the hospital so I am trying to get back to my normal routine. As you may be able to tell by the time of this post, that hasn't happened yet.