Serena Williams has opened up on her health struggle following the birth of her daughter, revealing she had to ‘fight’ for the Cat scans that showed blood clots in her lungs.
The , Alexis Olympia, in 2017 via emergency C-section and developed a pulmonary embolism hours after the birth. She had to undergo back-to-back surgeries.
Serena has written about the traumatic experience in a new essay, pointing out that Black women are nearly three times as likely to die during or after childbirth than their white counterparts.
She recalled the doctor saying she would have to have a C-section, and remembered that even in her ‘hazy state’, she was still concerned about getting a heparin drip, a drug that helps to prevent blood clots.
Serena had previously had blood clots in her lungs in 2010 and knew she was high risk.
‘I asked a nurse, “When do I start my heparin drip? Shouldn’t I be on that now?”’ she recalled in her . ‘The response was, “Well, we don’t really know if that’s what you need to be on right now.” No one was really listening to what I was saying.’
Serena added: ‘The logic for not starting the blood thinners was that it could cause my C-section wound to bleed, which is true. Still, I felt it was important and kept pressing. All the while, I was in excruciating pain. I couldn’t move at all—not my legs, not my back, nothing.’
After bursting her stitches and having another surgery to repair them, Serena woke up and said she felt like she was dying.
She managed to get up, walk to another room, and ask a nurse for a Cat scan and to also be put on a heparin drip.
She said the nurse tried to dismiss her request, but that she knew what she needed after years of listening to her own body.
‘Finally, the nurse called my doctor, and she listened to me and insisted we check. I fought hard, and I ended up getting the Cat scan,’ she said. ‘I’m so grateful to her. Lo and behold, I had a blood clot in my lungs, and they needed to insert a filter into my veins to break up the clot before it reached my heart.’
After another surgery, the doctors also found another blood clot and a hematoma (a collection of blood outside the blood vessels) in her abdomen.
Thankfully, after a week in hospital, she was able to return home with her husband, Alexis Ohanian, and baby Olympia.
The little one is now four, and seems to be following in her mum’s footsteps, with Serena sharing an earlier this year.
Alongside the clip, which was posted on the youngster’s official Instagram page – managed by her parents – the caption read: ‘Practice makes progress.’
Proud aunt Venus Williams was straight in the comments to heap praise on her niece’s ability, and penned: ‘It’s Oracene all over again!’
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