Canine capers: Richmond ruckman Troy Simmonds, with Marni and Kosta, shows a new appreciation for the great outdoors in Armadale yesterday. Picture: George SalpigtidisSimmonds lucky to be alive
14 September 2007 Herald Sun
Mark Stevens
TROY Simmonds doesn't want to think about it, but he knows he could have died.
The Richmond ruckman suffered a blood clot in his right lung last month. If major vessels had become blocked, he was in deep trouble.
"Some people don't make it as far as me," Simmonds said yesterday.
"Usually a clot travels from your leg upwards. This clot being in the lung, it was obviously very close to the heart."
Speaking for the first time since the scare that ended his season, Simmonds said he was taken to hospital in unbearable pain.
"It felt like someone was sticking a knife in me," he said.
He only discovered the true extent of the problem on his second hospital visit.
"I was sent to the Mercy to get a CT scan. The results came back and they said 'we're admitting you straight away'," Simmonds said.
"They said 'You've got a blood clot'. My immediate reaction was 'OK, what's that mean?'
"I didn't realise how serious it was until my girlfriend, who's a nurse, said she deals with a lot of patients where clots travel from legs through to the brain or the heart."
There is no evidence that Simmonds' problem started with a typical clot in the leg.
Blocked lung vessels, caused by clots, can put significant strain on the heart because not enough blood is pumped through. It can prove fatal.
Simmonds will be on blood-thinning drugs for up to three months.
He can train in that time, but must avoid body contact.
The initial treatment included injections in the stomach, both at hospital and at home.
Simmonds is now having weekly blood tests to monitor his condition after initially being subjected to daily tests. He is still awaiting the results of detailed tests.
But the ruckman can now run up to 25 minutes and is feeling fully fit. After a season wrecked by an ankle injury, the 29-year-old cannot wait to start full-blown pre-season training.
After feeling such sharp pain through his shoulder and chest, and pressure around the heart, Simmonds is relieved he at least knows it was a clot.
"The players at the time said I looked very drained and very stressed," Simmonds said.
He suspects his problems started when his shoulder took the full force of a collision with Sydney's Darren Jolly in Round 17.
"Leading up to the Geelong game the following week, I felt heavy in the legs and short of breath in the last training session.
"Against Geelong in the warm-up I had the feeling something wasn't right. In the game, I had to come off every six or seven minutes. I was virtually walking to the contest.
"I said to the fitness guy 'What's up? I don't feel right here'.
"He was looking at me and I was keeling over on my knees. I just couldn't get any air in. I felt like my chest was so constricted."
Simmonds thought he was suffering from the flu, but it became obvious in the lead-up to the Collingwood game in Round 19 that something serious was amiss.
"It may have started with my ankle operation at the start of year, but we did a scan on the leg and there was nothing to say that could be the case," Simmonds said.
"Maybe it was that heavy knock with Jolly.
"It just shows it can happen to anyone."
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