Justine Ezarik – 38 Year Old YouTube Vlogger Had A Pulmonary Embolism With Blood Clot In Lungs
Justine, better known as iJustine just announced today to her 1.8 million twitter followers she’s had a major blood clot scare.
In her words, a recollection of what’s happened to her:
“TLDR; I was in the hospital for 5 days with a blood clot in my shoulder that traveled to my lungs (PE). I have a potential diagnosis of paget schroetter syndrome, and may have to have a rib removed
1/20 – Here’s the thread of events that occurred this past week:
2) Tues: Texted my sister who just landed from Germany that I thought I had a blood clot. My arm was swollen + felt a little faint. Took my BP – it was normal. I showered, rested and swelling went down. I went to a nice web3 dinner that evening
3) Wed: Spent the day at NFTLA convention, hung out with great people, met new friends. I was so tired that I actually got a hotel room in the afternoon and took a nap before the events in the evening. I felt fine, just a little off.
4) Thurs: I was supposed to go back to the convention but was too tired. I had light saber training at 7am and then I cleaned my garage, assembled a push sled. By afternoon my arm was not looking good. I went to another web3 dinner hoping it’d resolve itself.. (it didn’t)
5) Fri: I was a little scared falling asleep Thurs night and when I woke up it wasn’t much better. My sister and I were supposed to record a podcast. I couldn’t lift my arm up to brush my hair and knew this could be very severe if I didn’t get help fast.
6) We rolled up to the ER telling them I have a blood clot in my arm, they think I’m crazy because “young and healthy” until they saw IT. They quickly got me a bed and ordered an ultra sound.
7) Ultra sound did in fact prove my theory correct, blood clot in my shoulder. I waited for hours until they could get transport and a bed to a larger hospital. They also wouldn’t let me eat or drink incase they needed to do a procedure immediately upon arrival.
8) Many hours later, I’m in an ambulance to big hospital. They start blood thinner medication. By 10pm they finally say I can eat something because my procedure won’t be until the morning. My wonderful sister @jennaezarik got me everything from the cafeteria menu!
9) Got a room, lots of test, 10pm meal. Lost my shirt, almost passed out trying to get a shower. Things are going GREAT. Arm still SWOL..
10) Sat: Had no idea what procedure they were doing because no doctor would come up to talk to me. They wheeled me down to the OR. I’m in a mild panic because I know nothing about this procedure, the drugs they’ll be giving me or what recovery will be like..
11) Panic mode in the OR deciding if I should do this procedure I know NOTHING about. I call my pharmacist sister and YouTube friend @DrChrisNicholas WHO ACTUALLY DOES THIS EXACT PROCEDURE AS HIS PROFESSION!! My Dr was NOT happy abt my hour long consult with other Drs lol
12) Procedure happens, they run a catheter into the vein to the clot injecting tPA to dissolve it. I was so loopy coming out of anesthesia and I kept asking everyone if they have any NFTs. I do recall someone saying they have a @BoredApeYC but I think he was lying..
13) At this point I’m now in the ICU and I can’t move either of my arms. I’m completely helpless and on strict bedrest until the follow up appointment the next morning. My sister has to feed me, brush my hair and teeth and it was just an overall very sad sight.
14) That night was terrible bc they had to do a potassium IV which caused my arm to cramp and burn with the worst pain I felt the entire time being there. I just counted down the hours until it was over..
15) Sunday: Procedure round 2, clot still not dissolved. Tried to bribe my Dr to check at 12 hours instead of 24 but he didn’t accept my $100 or 5 $ETH offer.. 24 more hours of bedrest, clot drugs and not moving my arms. I’m pretty defeated tbh
16) Most of Sunday was staring at the clock waiting for 8am the next morning. I had surprise visitors @rosannapansino and @husky! I wasn’t really in any mood to see people but Ro brought a special Hawaiian surprise for me since I had cancel my trip to Hawaii this wknd with her.
17) Monday: 3rd time is hopefully a charm! They put me out again and I wake up to the good news that it’s gone! Or, so I thought because later that evening I started having chest pains, they ran a CT at 1:30am and found a piece of it broke off and went to my lungs. COOL
18) Since I did end up having a PE, they kept me until Tuesday afternoon for monitoring. They were still letting me go home even with the clot in my lung. They said the treatment would be the same and the extensive amount of blood thinners I’ve been on should clear it up
19) So, here we are. I’m out of the hospital. Now on blood thinners for months, a possibility of having a rib removed and all my favorite activities are on hold. I’m feeling really great all things considered and will be back to making videos in no time!
20) A huge thanks to my incredible medical team that made this experience much less scary and saved my life. Special thanks to @jennaezarik for taking care of me for 5 days and to everyone who knew what was happening that checked it. Now, let’s hope I can keep my rib..
Justine’s thoughts on COVID Vaccines, Masks, Testing, and COVID.
Justine announced on Instagram 4/23/21: She was a “fully vaccinated” proud #vaxhole.
“Second shot ✅ I’m officially a proud #vaxhole! What’s everyone else’s status? You full vax? Half vax? Anti-vax? #modernamama”
In the below video Justine used a filter to make fun of vaccine injuries, not once, but twice.
“I’m doing well. I’ve been getting covid tests before seeing friends, family or working. I also take the OTC ones every few days just to be extra cautious.”
“This is me.. every few days, freaking out at every single cough or if I feel extra tired. Now I’m just extra paranoid and anxious even when I haven’t left the house since the last time I got COVID test..”
“Hope no one has any small chance to live because your life was already decided by the anti-maskers and people who continue to party and act like they are above COVID.”
We wish her a full recovery.
A pulmonary embolism is a blockage in one of the pulmonary arteries in your lungs. In most cases, pulmonary embolism is caused by blood clots that travel to the lungs from deep veins in the legs or, rarely, from veins in other parts of the body (deep vein thrombosis). Because the clots block blood flow to the lungs, pulmonary embolism can be life-threatening.
Here are a few articles regarding Pulmonary Embolism:
- A Case of Acute Pulmonary Embolus after mRNA SARS-CoV-2 Immunization
- Three cases of acute venous thromboembolism in females after vaccination for coronavirus disease 2019
- Acute Ischemic Stroke Revealing ChAdOx1 nCov-19 Vaccine-Induced Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia: Impact on Recanalization Strategy
- Isolated pulmonary embolism following COVID vaccination: 2 case reports and a review of post-acute pulmonary embolism complications and follow-up
- A rare case of COVID-19 vaccine-induced thrombotic thrombocytopaenia (VITT) involving the veno-splanchnic and pulmonary arterial circulation, from a UK district general hospital
