Woman almost died from six blood clots after nurse blamed leg pain on being 'lazy student'
A woman said she almost died from six blood clots after a nurse blamed her excruciating leg pain on being a 'lazy student'.
Maela Penney, a 22-year-old estate agent from Cornwall, claimed she has since 'lost trust' in said medical professionals after her leg pain was allegedly misdiagnosed as being from her 'muscles seizing up' from being 'lay in bed for too much'.
Maela, who was 17 years old and in college at the time, made an urgent appointment at her local GP surgery in October 2019 after experiencing heaps of pain in her left hip and leg.
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Recalling her alleged misdiagnosis, Maela said: "I started to get really bad hip pain. It was aching and keeping me up in the night. I didn't think it was anything serious at that time.
"I rang my doctors in the morning and I explained I was in agony. At this point, I couldn't walk very well but I could still walk. My grandad came with me and helped me walk to the doctors."
When she got there, she was seen to by a nurse practitioner who asked Maesla if she was an active person.
"At the time I wasn't really doing much because I was in college," Maela recounted. "She said it could be down to me not moving around a lot and spending a lot of time in bed.
"She said spending a lot of time in bed can cause your muscles to seize up. She was basically saying I was a lazy student who wasn't getting enough exercise and staying in bed too long."
Maela was subsequently sent home with a packet of painkillers but returned the following day after her pain symptoms drastically worsened through the night.
"My whole left leg basically seized up and I was in absolute agony. I had to be wheeled into the doctors, I couldn't walk," she said.
"I saw the same nurse again who said 'oh I think you might have deep vein thrombosis (dvt)' and told me to go to hospital. I don't know how long I'd had that condition."
Her leg was 'really swollen' at that point and was 'seized up', leaving Maela in 'absolutely agony' and unable to walk 'at all'.
"I went to hospital the next day and was given some blood thinning injections in my stomach," she continued. "I then went into theatre where they removed all the blood clots from my leg.
"There must have been about six in there, some of them were about the size of a 50p coin, there were multiple clots."
The clots were all leading up to the main artery in her heart.
After a week in hospital, and a further operation to insert a stent in her leg, Maela was discharged and prescribed blood thinning tablets which she will have to take for the rest of her life to reduce the risk of further clots.
Looking back, the estate agent believes she 'would be dead' if she hadn't pushed for a further appointment at her GP surgery - and is now urging others to always be persistent with medical professionals.
Maela said: "If it had been left any longer and I didn't keep pushing, it wouldn't have been a good outcome. I was annoyed that during the first appointment she said it was basically me not getting enough exercise and just laying in bed.
"I probably would've been dead if I hadn't pushed it. I had a scan before all the clots were removed and the clots were all leading up to the main artery in my heart. It was only a matter of time, it could've been a bad outcome if I'd just stayed at home."
She said she was 'disappointed' the nurse didn't spot the signs as, looking back now, it was 'obvious' what the problem was.
Maela also admitted the whole ordeal has made her 'lose trust' in medical professionals as she revealed: "If I can avoid going to the doctors, I will.
"If something's not right, I wouldn't take that for an answer if you're not happy. I would ask for a second opinion and keep pushing because you yourself know when something's not right.
"Don't just accept the first answer if you're not happy. I knew something wasn't right."
The 22-year-old urged: "In these situations, you have to be persistent especially if it's going to save your life."
Rhiannon Ingle