A Scots mum is pleading with doctors to 'cut her leg off' after a c-section to deliver her premature baby left her with agonising blood clots.
Irene Miller had to have an emergency c-section when she went into early labour with her baby son Lenny, on October 24.
As a result of the operation the 25-year-old has developed severe Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) which has left her in excruciating pain and unable to walk.
Irene, who is also mum to Lylah-Rae, four and two-year-old Levi Jnr, says she is desperate for the pain to stop.
She said: "I'm in agony. I can't walk, my leg has swollen up and keeps going purple, then back to normal then purple again. It's a living nightmare and I have three wee kids to look after. I have actually asked the doctors to cut my leg off because the pain is so bad."
Irene had a no issues during her pregnancy until she hit the 28-week mark when a routine appointment discovered the blood was not flowing through the umbilical cord to the baby.
She then had to attend twice-weekly appointments at Ayrshire Maternity Unit (AMU) to check the baby was doing ok.
At 34 weeks Irene was admitted to hospital for further tests and while she was there her waters broke and she went into premature labour.
She said: "They were going to try deliver him but then the baby began to get distressed and they decided on an emergency c-section."
Baby Lenny Thomson was born weighing 4lbs 2oz and despite having to be incubated and hooked up to a heart monitor and feeding tube in High Dependency in AMU, Irene, and Lenny's dad Levi Thomson, 23, were hopeful their baby would pull through.
After a 11 days their hopes were realised when the youngster was well enough to be discharged to the family home in Kilwinning, Ayrshire.
But just days later Irene began to feel unwell and suffering from extreme pain in one of her legs and chest pains.
She said: "I was up and about after the c-section and felt fine.
"But all of a sudden I had pain in my leg and it was just getting worse and worse when eventually I couldn't walk.
"I called the doctor and they said it was just sciatic pain and told me to take pain killers.
"I did that but it didn't help. The next day I woke up and my legs was purple and swollen and I started having chest pains.
"I went straight to the hospital but they made me do a Covid test and wouldn't do anything for me for 24 hours until that came back.
"It was negative so then they took me for a scan and it showed blood clots which had been causing all the pain and led to the chest pains."
Irene is now being given daily Fragmin injections to deal with the blood clots but she says despite receiving 'amazing' care when Lenny was first born, she now feels Crosshouse Hospital aren't helping her.
She said: "The care we got in the special care baby unit was amazing. It was a very emotional time because we were worried about Lenny and I had two other babies at home.
"But since I have been back and forth with this DVT problem they are just passing me from pillar to post.
"I have gone to A&E and they say it's the Maternity Unit I should see but then send me back to A&E.
"It's a nightmare, I just want someone to help me feel better."
Professor Hazel Borland, Nurse Director, said: "NHS Ayrshire & Arran is committed to ensuring that people have access to high quality health services and takes all patient feedback, comments, concerns or complaints very seriously.
"We have a duty to uphold patient confidentiality, therefore, are unable to go into detail about the treatment of individual patients.
"We would encourage any person who is concerned about their health or wishes to discuss their care, to contact us directly. This allows us to investigate, provide feedback and further support."
