How I Survived Blood Clots

I welcome everybody to this new year of 2013! I would love to have stayed up to watch the ball drop with Dick Clark’s widow last night. I would love to have replied to two thoughtful text messages wishing me a Happy New Years. I did not want to mess up the sleep pattern I have or take Sonata any later than 7:30 p.m. I would not be able to write this morning about an issue I feel does not receive enough media attention. I had planned to introduce Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s beliefs on equal rights this morning. However, something I read yesterday from the Associated Press really ruffled my tail feathers and is motivating me to write over the second experience with blood clots Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, is currently facing.

As a woman who is now suffering from two rounds of blood clots, I feel more of a connection with Hilary Clinton. Now we have both experienced two hospital stays due to this deadly disease. What disappoints me is Mrs. Clinton’s battle with blood clots has not really been made public until now. In the 1990s when her husband was President, she developed a blood clot behind her knee the way I did on January 23, 2011. As the First Lady, this woman did not feel educating her public about warning signs on blood clots was necessary. So, she did not. Perhaps Mrs. Clinton and the Associated Press shared the same belief that a blood could easily be taken care. I must take into consideration that her first blood clot did not launch up the way mine did. She did not have to face the traumatic impact the way I did. Still, my heart cries for this woman. She is suffering. There is no neurological damage, thankfully.

 

Mrs, Clinton's second blood clot is more severe because the location resides between her ear and brain. While we watched this report on the nightly news last night, my husband kept looking my way to see how I was responding. As a blood clot survivor and as a woman who has prayed for other women and men to heal from blood clots, this news is devastating to me. What a way to spend this New Years holiday. Even though I may not agree with everything Mrs. Clinton says and does, my heart still feels for the pain and heartache she is now experiencing. This woman has spent her entire life after law school setting a positive example of what a hard working woman in our world should be like. This woman now lays in a hospital bed appreciating prayers and words of encouragements for her health. I encourage each of my readers to pray for Mrs. Clinton's health regardless of political views. I have had to set aside my own political views in this situation and remember that Mrs. Clinton's health comes first to me during this difficult time along with former President George Bush. I pray for God's healing and tender love for both of these two people along with their families and friends. This is heavily on my mind.

After the nightly news ended, I looked up articles over Mrs. Clinton’t health. I found two articles about Mrs. Clinton’s health from the Associated Press. In both articles, the same pathetic logic was given for anybody with a blood clot in the leg area. This was no big deal and should be taken lightly. The treatment would only consist of a blood thinner. This was written by a person who apparently had no clue on the real dangers of blood clots. I was very disappointed in the lack of research provided and treating a blood clot in the leg as if it was nothing.

A blood clot found in a person’s leg is something big, and a person should drop everything to go to the local emergency room immediately. My first experience with blood clots originated in my right leg. Since I had had no prior experience with a blood clot, I had no idea what was happening. All I felt was intense pain in that leg. I would have to hobble to the bathroom. I felt more comfortable with the leg propped up under pillows.

After the fifth day of suffering from this pain, I told my husband we were going to the hospital. Once there, I was checked out by the Emergency Room doctor. A big blood clot was found in my right leg. I was admitted to the hospital where my stay lasted five day. The male doctor I had was one of a kind. He told me to never take birth control again.    

I was put on the only FDA-approved blood thinner that seemed to interact with every other medication I took. I had to follow an absolute food guide that would not prevent the medication from working. This meant I could no longer eat any greens such as salad, broccoli, and spinach. I could not put mayonnaise on sandwiches. I could not eat cucumbers. I had to deal with the emotional impact of having blood clots along with learning a new lifestyle of eating.

 When I entered the Emergency Room early on January 23, 2011, I felt the formation of the blood clot in my lower right leg. Since I was taken off the blood thinner that December, my doctor finally convinced me to be put on Celexa to calm my anxieties. Since I had a hysterectomy and a history with blood clots, I could not take hormone supplements to straighten my moods out. So, I suffered for a few months. Since the blood thinner affected my concentration skills with reading and writing, I could not read during this time.  So I wrote. I kept a journal of everything. I fought with my new found stupidity and won. This was not a good feeling for a woman who loved to read and use proper grammar to experience. My typing skills were terrible during this time. But, as I always tell my husband, a woman has to do what a must to do in order to survive.

I made the decision to find an advocacy group on Facebook that would support those survivors of blood clots along with meeting other females who have suffered the way I did. I found Forever Deborah, founded by a twin sister of a young lady who lost her own twin to birth control.  I also created my own blood clot group, which I had to sadly end. But, the more I educated myself with other new areas in college and found so many supportive loved ones, the more I felt the need and desire to advocate for other women and men who  may not have known what to do. I did not know what to do when I was first given Warfarin Sodium, had blood drawn for INR levels, and Lovenox shots in the hospital.

When a person experiences a blood clot, the hospital stay will consist of having blood drawn early in the morning to check the INR level. This level tells a doctor how effective the clotting level is in the body. Anything below a 2.0 is not good. There is a good chance a blood clot could form if a patient is released. Anything a patient eats or drinks that has traces of vitamin k needs to be reported to the nurses and doctor.

I suggest a patient request a special heart healthy diet for meals. I learned this during my second hospital stay. With this diet, there are no green vegetables or anything that could lower the INR level. The daily goal is to raise the INR level above a 2.0 and be able to keep it there. The patient needs to learn to exhibit self-discipline as well. Learn the patient eating guide well. This is going to be the key to stay out of the hospital.

When my doctor took me off of Warfarin Sodium about a year ago, she told me third clot would result in surgery. There would have to be a pump surgically inserted into the main artery leading down my back to stop a further blood clot from forming. I had honestly repressed this until now. Maybe this was the real reason I felt devastated about a possible blood clot at the beginning of the Fall semester and having to drop out.

When I read the Associated Press’s printed words, I felt compelled to write and share everything about my experience with my readers. What I learned from my two experiences with blood clots are things I had to find out on my own. Whenever I hear about somebody else experiencing the same pain I felt, I feel sad. This only proves there is a need to educate the public more.

This is the main reason I work out each day. I do not want my legs or arms to be inactive on my watch. A blood clot can form in or near the brain area, ear, eye, heart, lung, arm, and leg. I am sure a blood clot can form any place in the body. A blood clot is not welcome in my body, nor should this be welcome in any of my readers’ bodies. This is the first day of 2013, and I hope to make blood clots feel unwelcome in my body in any way possible as one of my New Years Resolutions. I don’t like you, I don’t want you, and I definitely do not need you living inside my body.

I encourage the Associated Press to hire writers who will not disappoint readers. I was disappointed with the lack of compassion, research, and dedication readers like me expect from a media source. This morning is New Years, and I could have decided to sleep in late.  I decided the issues I write about concerning educating the self are far more persistent than sleep. So, I go to sleep around 8 p.m. each night and wake up around 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. to write over strong writers who have made a mark in this world. Their faithful pens and papers have made me want to become a better person by educating myself. A good writer wants to educate his or her readers and instill the continuation  of. Please don't trust my writing alone. Look to further resources available. I had hoped to write over Elizabeth Cady Stanton's role in the equal rights movement for women. I am pretty sure Mrs. Stanton would agree with my writing this morning. I look forward to introducing this strong, brilliant lady tomorrow morning.

I am most thankful for God's deliverance from blood clots. I am sure several of my survivor friends feel the same way about their own battles and recoveries. On January 23, 2013, two years will have passed since having an active blood clot in my body.

I am kissing my pair of weight. Exercising each day is my key to the deliverance from blood clots. The more I work out, the more awareness I have that blood clots will no longer have power over my body or life. This is important to me.