Travel

Bridget Schaap thought she was having simple foot surgery, and was  surprised to find that she developed a blood clot after it. When I look back, it’s hard to believe all that happened to me.  As I prepared to quit my job and move from Chicago to Michigan to begin graduate school in December 2010, I…

Two years ago, I flew from Sydney to San Francisco, a 14 hour flight, in a middle seat in coach.  I took a sleeping pill to try to beat jet leg.  I slept for about 4 hours, awoke for a minute, and then went back to sleep for another 4 or 5 hours, so I…

My experience with Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) and Pulmonary Embolism (PE) started in June 2011, three months after I got married and spent a three week honeymoon “road tripping” around New Zealand with my husband. Late one night, I felt a twinge of pain behind my left knee.  I ignored it, figuring that I tweaked…

A year ago today, I had no idea the curve balls 2009 would throw at me, and I would have never guessed they would involve a life-changing experience involving my health. You see, I’m the “healthiest person” all of my family, friends and colleagues know.  I’m studying for my Master’s in nutrition, eat more than…

While I was on a 5 hour plane ride from Los Angeles to Manhattan, I felt a lingering ache in the back of my left knee that was uncomfortable, but nothing that caused me to feel immediate alarm. I am only 21 and have been an athlete my entire life, so I chalked it up…

I took what I thought was a routine flight to visit my family in Florida in October 2009.  My leg had been bothering me a little before the flight, due to chronic Achilles tendonitis.  When I got off the plane in Florida, my leg seemed stiffer than usual.  The flight was uneventful, and since it…

I was 30 years old and 6 months pregnant with my first child when I developed an acute deep vein thrombosis (DVT).  I had no prior knowledge of clotting disorders and had been on birth control for 10 years before I conceived.   It was a Thursday night when I first felt a tingling and slight…

My family and I had just returned from a ski trip to New Mexico in January 2009, and it was one of those marathon trips where we drove straight through for 11 hours. My legs felt heavy during the trip, and even though we did not make a lot of stops, I kept moving them…

Anna Frutiger embodied brains, beauty, compassion, and athleticism, and seemed the picture of health while she was living her dream of becoming a dentist. No one expected that a blood clot would end her life, and it seemed beyond belief that Anna died on May 20, 2010 from a pulmonary embolism (PE) due to an…

My experience with deep vein thrombosis (DVT) began more than 30 years ago in November 1979 when I was 30, and pregnant with my second child.  I flew with my husband and 3-year-old daughter from our home in Texas to visit my husband’s family in California for the Christmas holidays the next month.   While there,…