Pay Attention to the Pain…and Your Partner!
by Joseph DuPree, PCI #1599-B/EMSCI #385-B
Columbia College (SC) Police Department
I am not trying to give anyone medical advice, and I am not going to give you a bunch of stats. However, I wanted to share an eye-opening experience. In December 2021, I retired from the State of South Carolina and my position at the University of South Carolina Division of Law Enforcement and Safety. It was a very difficult decision, because I had worked there for 15 years and made a lot of good friends. However, I was not happy in the role that I found myself in. I suspect that you feel the same way I do: I was never happier at work than when I was on bike patrol.
I wasn’t ready for full retirement, so I had spent about three months looking for a job outside of law enforcement with no luck. When I saw that a small private college was advertising a patrol officer’s position, I decided to make some inquiries. After talking with the Chief at the college, I accepted the position and filed my paperwork to retire from the state. It seemed like it took forever for my new commission card to come in so I could start carrying a firearm again.
On Saturday, January 1, 2022, I started my first night as a newly re-commissioned police officer. The college was closed for the holiday season. About three students, my partner, and I were the only ones on campus. I made my plans; I was going to keep up my old training habits by physically checking to make sure that every door in my area was locked. I drove the patrol vehicle to a centralized location and started walking. I was a bit winded, but I really didn’t think much of it. I had just spent almost a year sitting on my butt, providing physical security for one of the campus buildings at my last department. But I pressed on, checking every door and building in my patrol beat.
At one point, I had to stop to catch my breath. The other thing I was experiencing was cramp in the back of my right calf; make a note of that – it will come up later. After completing my checks, I returned to the vehicle and started a vehicle patrol of the surrounding area of campus. Once in the vehicle, I did not experience any shortness of breath or other signs of distress. The night went on without issue and my partner and I were relieved in the morning. I drove home, put my gear away, showered, and went to bed.
On Sunday, January 2, when I woke up to get ready for work, I felt great and energetic. After collecting my gear, my coffee, and my lunch, I left home and drove back to work. Just after we started our shift, a person who lives by the college’s athletic fields called the emergency number to report that someone was trying to break into their vehicle. We responded to the scene, along with the city police. We did not find any suspects, just the victim’s broken-into vehicle.
At that time, I did not feel any shortness of breath, just the cramp in my right calf. I filed a report for the call and ate my lunch. I met with my partner at the gas pump to refuel my patrol vehicle and we talked for a few minutes. I then started my property check, same as I had the night before. Again, I had the shortness of breath, and I had to stop and catch my breath a number of times. However, once I was back in the patrol vehicle, I was fine. The rest of the night was uneventful, and when it was time to unlock the only building that we needed to unlock, I told my partner that I would do it. I got out of my vehicle and walked to the front door. I got about halfway when I realized that I did not have the keys. I turned around and started walking back to the vehicle. That’s when I started to feel light-headed and my vision started to shrink in.
A few minutes later, I came around and found myself looking up at tree limbs, black sky, and a street light. I remember trying to rationalize that all of this stuff was in my house and wondering what happened to my ceiling. A few seconds later, I realized what happened; I had passed out. I got to my feet – it took a minute or two – and made it to the vehicle.
After opening the building, I drove back to the office. I was cold; cold like I have never been before. My body felt sluggish and it was hard to move. I also felt like I had something in my lungs that I needed to cough up. My partner pulled up in his vehicle and asked, “Where have you been?” I told him that I had scared the crap out of myself, and that I had passed out. He told me that I should go to the ER to get checked out. I was not loving the idea of an ambulance ride, or waking my wife up at 7:00am to ask her to pick me up and take me to the hospital.
I was hoping I could wait to see my general practitioner later that morning. Unfortunately, it did not work out that way. As I was moving my gear to my personal vehicle, I became lightheaded again; the next thing I knew, my partner was yelling at me to wake up. I had passed out for the second time, so I told my partner to go ahead and call EMS.
After what felt like an eternity, the city fire and county EMS crew arrived on scene to check me out. After hearing my story, EMS recommended that I get transported to the hospital for further medical treatment. I agreed, and they packaged me up and took me to one of the local hospitals. For some reason, I thought I was experiencing COVID-19. It was not until after they did the CT scan of my chest, and, I think, every other test known to modern medicine, that they realized I had blood clots in my lungs.
I was fortunate to still be alive because, as it turns out, it was actually a large number of blood clots. At some point I realized that I needed to call my wife to let her know I was in the hospital. After she arrived, we talked to the ER doctor about the various treatments and which plan we were going to take.
Now, I get the mental image that life was laughing at me for thinking I had a say in all of this. Because, when I took four steps to wash my hands after using the bathroom, I passed out a third time. I woke to see that the previously empty ER was as full as a Krispy Kreme on National Donut Day. That’s when one of the cardiologists that they had asked to review my case walked in. He recommended a procedure that would go in to get the blood clots out of my body. This would be done with a catheter, from the vein near the groin area, up to the lungs. With little choice, I agreed to it, and asked, “Is it going to be tomorrow or the next day?” The doctor answered, “No, I would like to do the procedure in 30 minutes.”
Even though I was not sedated for this procedure, I really don’t remember a lot. By this point, I was running on very little sleep. After the procedure, the doctor confirmed that I had a very large number of clots in my lungs and that they appeared to be no more than a week old. I do remember them showing me a 12 x 9-inch tray with red blobs covering most of it. As I write this article, I am still taking blood thinners and am undergoing testing to determine if I have a hereditary gene that causes blood clots.
However, all of the doctors – hematologist, cardiologist, ER doctor, and my general physician – all believe that it was an episodic event related to my 12 hours of travel to and from the holiday vacation. Perhaps even the added time in the seated position in my patrol vehicle caused the clots to form.
My doctors advised me that shortness of breath and pain in the lower legs are very common signs of blood clots. But those were just my symptoms; there may be others. They also advised me that some people are prone to developing blood clots, mainly after the age of 40. Particularly as we get older, it is a good idea to get out of our patrol vehicles or away from our desks every two hours and go for a walk to get the blood flowing. The seated position is the most common position to cause blood clots and they normally form below the knees, in the calf area.
Learn from my experience. You don’t need to go through the same possibly lethal experience and expensive procedure that I had. Listen to your body and pay attention to the pain. I could tell that something was not right and I was too quick to blow off the signs. It could have been the last thing I did.
Be careful out there and treasure every minute with your loved ones!
Joseph is currently employed by Columbia College Police Department in Columbia, South Carolina. He has been in Law Enforcement since 1998 and has served the majority of his career in the capacity of Bike Patrol Officer. He believes firmly in the ability of bike patrol to play a central role in everyday law enforcement duties, regardless of the size of one’s department. He was certified as an IPMBA Police Cyclist in 1998, a LEBA Mountain Bike Officer in 2006; a LEBA Instructor in 2008; an IPMBA Instructor and a BRT Instructor in 2016. He can be reached at jdupree@columbiasc.edu.
(c) 2022 IPMBA. This article appeared in the 2022 Conference Highlights issue of IPMBA News.