How At Risk Are You?
By Tamara McHatton

This article could save your life...literally.

A couple months ago I had surgery. I went through that just fine. In, out, ta-da...no problems. Doc said, because of my conditioning and above-average health, I came through a lot better than he expected.

Two weeks later, I was in the hospital fighting for my life.

I woke up one morning, a week after my surgery, and felt what seemed like a “charlie-horse” in my left calf. Not really painful...just a tightening in the calf, especially when I walked around. I attributed this discomfort to getting back on my feet after a week of recovery: stiff muscles complaining about being used again. As the days went on I began to notice a sensation of my left foot “falling asleep” and staying ice cold. One week later the cramp, and numbness were still present, so I went to see my regular doctor.

He immediately put me in the hospital on complete bed rest...no movement allowed at all while I was pumped full of Heparin and Coumadin. Here's what I found out about each. Heparin is an anticoagulant. It's used in preventing the formation of clots and extension of existing clots within the blood and it allows the body's natural clot lysis mechanisms to work normally to break down clots that have already formed. Coumadin is an anticoagulant, a blood thinner. It reduces the formation of blood clots and is used to prevent heart attacks, strokes, and blood clots in veins and arteries.

I had been diagnosed with a fair-sized DVT (deep vein thrombosis) in my left calf. Having no clue what that was, or what caused it, I began doing research. What I found out stunned the living hell out of me.

DVT begins with blood clots forming in the veins of the legs during hours of immobility (i.e., long-haul flights, recuperation after surgery). When mobility resumes (for instance, once a passenger deplanes or the patient becomes ambulatory) the clots can break free of the vein, and travel to the lungs causing an embolism and potentially death. Strike one against me for following my doctor's orders after surgery. David Bloom's widow is bringing this plight to the forefront after loosing her news-reporter husband, not to gunfire, but a DVT (Florida Today) that struck him down almost instantaneously.    more >>