Every March, I post a PSA to various forums I participate in about DVT (deep vein thrombosis.) Please bear with me as this is something I need to do.
A lot of people have one particular illness or condition that they despise with all their heart, this is mine. In late 2000, my DVTs were diagnosed by a sharp-eyed nurse at our local emergency room after being missed by my physician, and her diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound. My left leg had been bothering me for weeks, it felt heavy and the muscles in my thigh fatigued quickly, and I just had an overwhelming sense of something being very very wrong with that leg. I had four blood clots in my left leg, and spent the next three weeks in the hospital, part of that time in the ICU. I was also 7 1/2 months pregnant with my beloved son at the time, so it wasn't just me who was in trouble. Things could have gone very badly for him, and the fantastically kind and knowledgeable obstetrician who took over my care once I was released from the hospital made it clear just how close it'd been. For the next four months, I took three shots of heparin every day, and we are both absolutely fine today because of that nurse's knowledge and the excellent medical care I received. No lasting ill effects, nothing.....100% fine and healthy.
In stark contrast, my stepfather developed a DVT in late 1985, and his was diagnosed during his autopsy in January of 1986. He'd been misdiagnosed as having a chest cold following a severe leg injury, that "chest cold" was in fact the pulmonary embolism that ended up killing him. He was my best friend, and he died 23 days before the birth of my half sister, his daughter, so he never even got to see his child. The only difference between his DVT and mine was the diagnosis, or lack of. It's highly treatable if detected, and it shouldn't be killing so many people every single year. The ironic part is that mine was diagnosed in spite of not being the classic DVT presentation, his was THE textbook perfect presentation and was still missed. I miss him still, and I think of him every time I make these posts.
Please take a few minutes and go read the information available at PreventDVT.org, especially the signs and symptoms, and file that information away in your mind . Odds are that you'll never develop a DVT, but if you do, recognizing the symptoms may very well save your life. You don't have to panic, and you shouldn't start thinking that you're in trouble every time you get a cramp in your calf, but you should be aware of what to watch for. Most people will go their entire lives without ever developing a clot, most won't even know someone who develops one, so there's absolutely no reason to fret or worry excessively, just educate yourself, pass the information along to people you know who are in high risk categories, and be aware. If detected, they're so very treatable, and educating the public could go a long way toward doing something about the 300,000 people who die from complications of DVT every year.
Thanks for reading this, and please pass it on.
A lot of people have one particular illness or condition that they despise with all their heart, this is mine. In late 2000, my DVTs were diagnosed by a sharp-eyed nurse at our local emergency room after being missed by my physician, and her diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound. My left leg had been bothering me for weeks, it felt heavy and the muscles in my thigh fatigued quickly, and I just had an overwhelming sense of something being very very wrong with that leg. I had four blood clots in my left leg, and spent the next three weeks in the hospital, part of that time in the ICU. I was also 7 1/2 months pregnant with my beloved son at the time, so it wasn't just me who was in trouble. Things could have gone very badly for him, and the fantastically kind and knowledgeable obstetrician who took over my care once I was released from the hospital made it clear just how close it'd been. For the next four months, I took three shots of heparin every day, and we are both absolutely fine today because of that nurse's knowledge and the excellent medical care I received. No lasting ill effects, nothing.....100% fine and healthy.
In stark contrast, my stepfather developed a DVT in late 1985, and his was diagnosed during his autopsy in January of 1986. He'd been misdiagnosed as having a chest cold following a severe leg injury, that "chest cold" was in fact the pulmonary embolism that ended up killing him. He was my best friend, and he died 23 days before the birth of my half sister, his daughter, so he never even got to see his child. The only difference between his DVT and mine was the diagnosis, or lack of. It's highly treatable if detected, and it shouldn't be killing so many people every single year. The ironic part is that mine was diagnosed in spite of not being the classic DVT presentation, his was THE textbook perfect presentation and was still missed. I miss him still, and I think of him every time I make these posts.
Please take a few minutes and go read the information available at PreventDVT.org, especially the signs and symptoms, and file that information away in your mind . Odds are that you'll never develop a DVT, but if you do, recognizing the symptoms may very well save your life. You don't have to panic, and you shouldn't start thinking that you're in trouble every time you get a cramp in your calf, but you should be aware of what to watch for. Most people will go their entire lives without ever developing a clot, most won't even know someone who develops one, so there's absolutely no reason to fret or worry excessively, just educate yourself, pass the information along to people you know who are in high risk categories, and be aware. If detected, they're so very treatable, and educating the public could go a long way toward doing something about the 300,000 people who die from complications of DVT every year.
Thanks for reading this, and please pass it on.
