Celebrating the Exodus of Physical Bondage

Yesterday was the second anniversary of me not being physically admitted to a hospital in my state for an active blood clot. My mood the previous night was blue. I had every right to feel depressed when remembering the traumatic impact Margaret Sanger Seely’s invention of birth control, or simply the pill, had on my health and life as a newlywed in 2010. I was at a convenient store about a year and a half ago when a news debate came on the television with supporters of the pill. Tears came to my eyes.

I left the convenient store after I bought a soda pop and an egg sandwich. I no longer wished to place myself in that situation. The situation I am referring to is the vulnerable state of emotions. Sometimes in modern times when I think about Margaret Sanger Seely, I still have a hard time with forgiveness. Since this persistent advocate of Planned Parenthood passed from the world, she was never able to be charged with felonies of third generation birth control killing women in our modern times. If the first generation birth control was remotely like first generation medications of SSRIs, MAOIs, and anti-psychotics, I am unable to even begin to imagine what the side effects would have been like.    

There is the valid argument of “I have the right to what goes into my body as a woman.” Since I do not practice the Catholic faith, I do not use my faith in this argument. I use what I know to support my argument against birth control in my own life. Since I have a history of blood clots, I am unable to take hormone replacement treatment. This meant when planning my hysterectomy, my female doctor had to base her decision on this fact. Since I am on a daily Aspirin regiment, I watched a recent news segment where this could possibly cause blindness if used long term.

All of this combined bondage would probably cause stress on any person. I had travelled with my husband to his monthly appointment during the week of July 23, 2010. Celebration of fifty years of the pill appeared on the cover of Time magazine along with the dispenser of birth control. I opened up the article and read about how wonderful this new creation saved so many women from having unwanted babies during the Hippie generation. Margaret Sanger Seely was jailed a few times, fled the country, and returned to continue to press birth control on the market of medicine. For funding, Seely used the inheritance from a woman whose husband had passed away from a mental illness. In literary terms, reading this article foreshadowed the ending of my week. This article provided glamour and a great deal of respect to the founding of a pill that has been in our nation for over fifty years.

After I returned home from the hospital the first time in 2010, I logged onto my computer to research the pill. The discovery shocked me. Margaret Sanger Seely dabbled in the field of eugenics of African Americans. Much like Hitler’s genocide of Jews in Concentration Camps, this American woman wanted the African American to decrease in size. So, she created the pill. I wrote daily and prayed daily. I needed answers on finding ways to forgive this woman. Before Jesus’s death, he prayed for God to forgive his enemies who had persecuted him, flogged him, and crucified him. I needed to find that internal strength so I could be able to move on with my life.

Two years have passed since my last hospital stay. I don’t really think about Margaret Sanger Seely much, and I don’t think about the pill much either. I have learned to accept that several politicians and supporters of the pill will never be able to travel down the rocky road that has led me to grace. That road is never going to be traveled by me again. I have written over that time, cried over the emotions, and I sought and was granted a divorce from 2010. I am able to see my life as a celebration. I have celebrated two years of living without blood clots. Other women have not been as lucky or blessed to have been rescued from this deadly and evil silent killer.

I decided to make a celebration out of yesterday. I received a credit card payment in the mail of owing nothing. That was something to celebrate. My son began barking at me angrily before my husband and I went out to eat to celebrate. I celebrated holding my son on my lap as I tried to explain the unfair rules of our society opposing pets in public places. I enjoyed chowing down on turkey, lettuce, tomatoes, and mayonnaise on sour dough bread. And, learning from being on Phentermine, I saved the second half of my sandwich. I took the survival skills I had learned over the past two years and applied them to my life today, or in modern times.

I do wish to include a note about Phentermine before I close for the morning. Two side effects I dealt with during the eight week period of being on Phentermine included severe constipation and acne. As a woman who already suffered from constipation, this increased in pain. I honestly do not know if I would recommend Phentermine to another person with a physical disability. I am able to handle physical pain while another person in a wheelchair may not.

One thing that really helped me deal with the pain of living with blood clots was journaling. By journaling, I don’t mean writing a skeleton of my feelings. I included everything from hurt, pain, anger, wanting to see Margaret Sanger Seely locked up in jail and me being the corrections officer on duty 24/7, and gutting everything out. I had to open up with the core of everything. I had to exhibit discipline in my writings as I grew. I had to leave pain where pain belonged. This does not mean those feelings have completely left my mind. I have to remember that the pill can never hurt me physically again. This is one area where I am completely satisfied. I am able to embrace being called a survivor.

In loving memory of our friends and family who have passed from this world too soon

Web Links:

The Truth About Margaret Sanger

http://www.blackgenocide.org/sanger.html

MargaretSanger, Founder of Planned Parenthood

http://www.dianedew.com/sanger.htm

Sterilization, Eugenics, and Margaret Sanger by Miriam Reed

http://www-personal.umd.umich.edu/~ppennock/doc-eugenics.htm

The Eugenic Value of Birth Control Propaganda by Margaret Sanger

http://www.nyu.edu/projects/sanger/webedition/app/documents/show.php?sangerDoc=238946.xml

US House De-Funds Margaret Sanger's Planned Parenthood

http://www.examiner.com/article/us-house-de-funds-margaret-sanger-s-racist-legacy-planned-parenthood

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.