DVT

In August 2014, I was overwhelmed with joy after delivering my baby boy, Jack. He was perfect, the delivery was pretty easy, and I was ready to go home. During a brief moment of quiet during his nap, I perused through the endless literature provided by the hospital. A hand drawing of a leg, with…

I started estrogen-based birth control in December 2018. I had a cramp in my calf, and two days later it was dismissed as nothing by my gynecologist. I stayed on birth control and what were actually clots in my right leg grew. I would later learn that the blood clots extended from my knee to…

On Thursday, December 20, 2018, I was 19 years old, and one day away from finishing my first semester of college. As I opened my eyes that day, I was having excruciating pain on the left side of my lower back. I had been dealing with lower back and hip pain since July 2018, and…

My name is Lucy, and I am 22 years old. I had DVT (deep vein thrombosis or blood clot in the leg) and PEs (pulmonary embolism or blood clots in the lung) due to estrogen-based contraception. I am sharing my story to raise awareness about the risks of estrogen-based birth control in women of my…

I am writing this story in memory of my husband, Jon Charles Shain, who passed away due to blood clots on January 26, 2019. Jon’s risk for getting a blood clot was high, but unfortunately, he did not realize it. Jon was being treated for prostate cancer for several years. Cancer is a risk factor…

In February of 2017, a friend challenged me to climb Mount St. Helens in August. At the time, I figured this was an easily attainable goal and we signed up. April came and I noticed some soreness in my right calf. During my lunch breaks I would climb the stairwell at work (16 floors), and…

No one can predict what medical issues they will have to overcome in their lives. I never thought that I would come face to face with a serious condition, like deep vein thrombosis, when I was 16 years old. It is what happened to me, though, and I feel extremely passionate about raising awareness, because…

For my college graduation trip, I went to Hawaii with my family. After our red eye flight back to LAX, I got up out of my seat and had severe calf pain in my left leg. I attributed it to running and didn’t think much of it. The next day, it was still bothering me,…

I was 29 years old when I was first diagnosed with blood clots. I dropped a bench on my right foot and about a week later, I started to feel pain in my right ankle and knee. I went to see my doctor about two weeks after the pain started, because it wasn’t going away,…

Postscript: March 2021 Update After recovery following my first blood clot, I thought it was all finally over. After suffering a debilitating stroke due to a blood clot in 2018, it never occurred to me that I could have another blood clot while on a blood thinner. Luckily, this time I knew the signs. Eighteen…