PENDLETON — Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, was hospitalized over the weekend for multiple blood clots in both lungs.

Hansell said he began to develop “left lung chest pains” while breathing and a slight fever on Saturday morning.

Hansell said by Sunday evening, his breathing had worsened, prompting a trip to the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital in Walla Walla, Washington. Hansell said blood work and a CAT scan of his chest revealed the clots.

“That CAT scan was the first time I had any idea there were pulmonary embolisms in both of my lungs,” Hansell said.

Hansell said on Saturday he initially visited an urgent care clinic in Walla Walla where an electrocardiogram, or EKG, was done on his heart and a chest X-ray was taken but nothing was found, so he was sent home.

“My breath got progressively shorter before I would trigger one of those pain responses. So (Saturday) evening, I’m getting real shallow in breathing and I’m thinking, ‘I don’t want to have a crisis in the middle of the night.’ So, (Hansell’s wife) Margaret drove me back to Walla Walla.”

Hansell said by Tuesday afternoon he was feeling better and was set to be discharged from the hospital on Wednesday.

“I feel fine. I still have some pain breathing,” he said.

During the Saturday visit to the urgent care clinic, Hansell said he was tested for COVID-19. The test came back negative Tuesday morning.

“Of course with all of the lung-related pneumonia and COVID-19, which certainly has the medical world’s focus right now, it never even dawned on me that it may be pulmonary embolisms,” he said. “So now I can start treating it and get on the road to recovery.”