A little over two months after he married Stephanie Lebo, former TLC reality TV star Jon Gosselin revealed he suffered a medical emergency right before the wedding.
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While speaking to Fox News Digital, the Jon & Kate Plus 8 cast member said he began feeling unwell in late October after a Halloween party.
“I had this pain in my calf, and I was like, ‘Whatever, you know, it could be anything,'” he explained. “But about 12 hours later, I had a pain in the groin, and my calf wasn’t hurting anymore, and I told my boy Eric — I was like, ‘Dude, something’s wrong.'”
However, Gosselin said his groin pain went away after he went home. But he started experiencing shoulder pain followed by a coughing fit. Amid the fit, he coughed up what he believed to be a “blood clot.”
“And I was coughing, and I cough up this coagulated blood clot thing,” he said. “That was a huge sign. If I wouldn’t have coughed that up, I would not have gone to the hospital.”
Gosselin continued by stating, “So I coughed up this blood thing, and then I was really scared. It was like one o’clock in the morning. Steph was sleeping, and I’m like — I just shook her. I’m like, ‘I got to go to the hospital.'”
Gosselin Drove Himself to the Hospital
As he recalled the medical emergency, the TLC reality TV alum said he drove himself to the hospital, which, admittedly, was a “no-no” given how he was feeling.
Upon arriving at the hospital, Gosselin said the staff took his blood pressure and said it was skyrocketing. After undergoing an MRI, doctors found a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in his leg. They also discovered two pulmonary emboli, one in each lung.
The doctor quickly got Gosselin started on treatment, which included an IV blood thinner treatment.
Gosselin said he experienced a DVT a month after previously being hospitalized with COVID-19. I thought it was just coincidental because of COVID, being on bed rest,” he said about the previous diagnosis. “And now it’s more of a thing now. Is it chronic? I don’t know. I’m going through testing for that.”
The couple was just weeks away from their wedding when the medical emergency happened.
“It really upset Steph, you know, the added stress,” Gosselin said. “So I was trying to not let her worry so much before the wedding.”
Following the incident, Gosselin said he mainly focused on his health as the couple prepared for the wedding.
“I reflected more on looking after myself, but I didn’t even know I had this problem,” he said.
Gosselin further noted that he is working with his doctors to determine the underlying cause of his health struggles. “I take testosterone, which increases your red blood cell count,” he added. “So you’re supposed to go get blood draws, like phlebotomy, to reduce your blood cell count. And I missed my appointment. So was it because of that? So I came off testosterone a little bit to make sure that my levels are just normal.”