About a week before she landed in a hospital bed -- presumably her death bed as she later learned -- Judi Wardian had been exceptionally short of breath, with a sharp pain on her right side.

Even after a battery of diagnostic tests, visits to the doctor had yielded no answers for the 64-year-old obstetrics nurse from Lansing. So after two days off work, spent exhausted and fighting for breath, Wardian began to think she was either crazy or just plain out of shape and headed back to work.

It was during a drug store pit stop before work the morning of June 18 that she began to feel something really wasn't right. Stumbling through the doors of Walgreens, she asked an employee to call an ambulance.

At Community Hospital in Munster, Wardian remembers being given oxygen through a mask and then being told she would have to be intubated. The next thing she remembers is a day or two later, when she awoke to the delight of family members who had been told to say their final goodbyes.

She had experienced a massive pulmonary embolism, her lungs so filled with blood clots, they were only operating at about 20 percent of their capacity.

"I don't think anybody thought she would survive," says Dr. Arvind Gandhi, the cardiologist called in to perform a pulmonary angiogram, which revealed the massive blockages and enabled quick administration of clot-busting medication.

Crediting a fast-acting emergency room staff and an accurate diagnosis of an ailment that is commonly missed, Gandhi says Wardian must have had a deep vein thrombosis in her legs that had gone undiagnosed. He says 99 percent of blood clots in the lung are thrown off from the legs.

A filter placed in the main vein in her abdomen will hopefully prevent any future clots from going to her lungs. Wardian is currently undergoing follow-up tests to determine the underlying cause of her pulmonary embolism as well as whether there is any residual damage.

During the darkest hours of her ordeal, Wardian recalls hearing the faraway voices of family members who pleaded that it just wasn't her time and she couldn't leave them yet.

"I know this sounds hokey but I truly believe I have a guardian angel," she says. "There's more for me to do here. My job on Earth isn't done yet."

Judi Wardian

Diagnosis/Definition: Pulmonary embolism. According to Medline Plus, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, "a pulmonary embolism is a sudden blockage in a lung artery. The cause is usually a blood clot in the leg, called a deep vein thrombosis, that breaks loose and travels through the bloodstream to the lung."

Symptoms: About a week before her hospitalization, Wardian experienced severe shortness of breath and a sharp pain in her right side.

Physician: Cardiologist Dr. Arvind Gandhi, chairman of cardiovascular disease and the cardiac catheterization lab at Community Hospital in Munster.

Treatment: Pulmonary angiogram. Through the groin, Gandhi threaded a catheter through Wardian's inferior vena cava, the main vein in the abdomen, into the pulmonary artery in the right side of the heart. After injecting dye, clots were revealed on both sides which had diminished her lung capacity by about 80 percent. Clot-busting medication was administered to dissolve the clots.

Gandhi also inserted a filter into Wardian's inferior vena cava, to prevent any future clots from reaching the lungs.

What you should know: Gandhi says awareness and prevention of deep vein thrombosis, or clots in the legs, is critical to avoiding a life-threatening pulmonary embolism. He says it's important to do some exercise or make a point to move around in situations where you may be immobile for some time, such as a long plane ride or hospitalization.