Kristina Vogel
Her pulmonary embolism was so dramatic
Kristina Vogel is currently in the Berlin Accident Hospital, where she was treated in 2018.
© Sebastian Gabsch/Future Image
An emergency operation probably saved Kristina Vogel’s life: the former professional athlete suffered a pulmonary embolism.
“A few hours later and I would have been dead”
She reported on the drama on her Instagram page on Monday evening (April 15). She had already started feeling sick on Friday, but she didn’t want to go to the hospital at first. But that night it got even worse. “My Apple Watch kept sounding an alarm. The resting heart rate was too high. 120!” She described this to “Bild”. in more detail: “I had difficulty breathing and thought I was suffocating. I had pain across my chest. I just lay there for two hours, but my pulse was still 120. The pain kept getting worse. The chest closed, the shoulder, the neck hurt immensely. A few hours later I would have been dead. Her friend Michael Seidenbecher, 39, then took her to the clinic.
“A few hours later I was already on the operating table,” said Vogel on Instagram. “Pulmonary embolism. Blood clots (thrombi) were removed with a catheter or suctioned out. I had so many thrombi in my lungs that the heart pressure had already increased and it was becoming life-threatening. Let’s put it this way: One more day at home would probably be my last day.”
“It’s a bit like a family reunion here”
On Monday, the two-time Olympic champion was able to post another smiling picture from her hospital bed. She gave her a thumbs up and said, “I’m feeling pretty good again now!” While she was resting, the doctors investigated the cause: “Where did it come from? The cross section probably has nothing to do with it.”
Meanwhile, she hasn’t lost her sense of humor. “It’s a bit like a family reunion here. I see a lot of people from 2018 again.” Nevertheless, she is slowly having enough of the hospital stays. “I actually didn’t want to go back to a hospital until I had a child,” she explained in the “Bild” interview. But now she will stay until the cause of the embolism is found.