DVT

I’ve always been an active person, regularly hiking 40 miles a week. When I had extreme calf pain in 2011 at 54 years old, I went to ER and was diagnosed with an unprovoked deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and was prescribed warfarin for six months. They did not know what caused the DVT and did…

It was the day after Thanksgiving last year and I was doing yardwork. I had been having breathing issues and was feeling lightheaded and tired over the past day or so. But I dismissed it as being due to the holidays and a busy work schedule.    Around 3 p.m., as I walked up a set…

In 2016, while on duty as a firefighter, I experienced pain behind my knee and swelling in my right leg. A couple of weeks earlier, while playing with my children, I also experienced what I could only describe as a “shaken fizzy can opening feeling” in my chest that went after a minute or two.  …

I have always been physically active, but I had slowed down as our family grew. I was smack in the middle of getting back into steadily working out when, after a 10-mile morning bike ride, I started experiencing pain in my left leg.    The pain started on a Friday morning and intensified over the weekend,…

Last July, I was told I have factor V Leiden. I was unfamiliar with this, but my doctor said I didn’t need to do or take anything for it, so went about my life.   Less than a year later, I was having a lot of pain in my left leg and thought maybe I had…

My story begins when I first started experiencing swelling in my right ankle after getting home from work one day. Over the next few days I developed pain in my upper calf that started to hurt when walking. I immediately thought it could be a deep vein thrombosis (DVT), but instead of addressing this, I…

I injured my ankle in 2017 and needed surgery. Shortly after, I woke up in the middle of the night with intense pain in my back. I knew it was bad, as I was having difficulty moving. My husband took me to the ER, where I was fortunate that they did take me seriously. They…

I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in November 2017. I had a complete hysterectomy followed by the standard six rounds of chemotherapy, after which I had no evidence of disease until February 2021 when I had a recurrence.   I had to undergo six more rounds of chemo, and I also participated in a trial, but…

I live a fairly active lifestyle as a preschool teacher, firefighter wife, and dog mom. I am always on the go! When I began experiencing what I thought were muscle cramps, I thought nothing of it. Little did I know, my body was experiencing a trauma that would halt me in my tracks.    In November…

My first blood clot happened in 2004. I was working as a phlebotomist in a blood bank when my calf felt tight and painful to walk on. I saw my doctor the same day and was sent for a Doppler of my lower left leg. It showed a blood clot, or deep vein thrombosis (DVT).…