Surprise, that is what I was when I went to the hospital with a blood clot in my lungs. I always think I am healthy. But when you have a pain in your chest, such as I had, you don’t really think it is anything serious, like a heart attack or a blood clot. It hurts, but so does gas. After a xray, a MRI, an EKG and a ultrasound, it was determined that I had a blood clot in my lungs (one on each side). They gave me a shot in the rear end to ease the pain then started me on warfarin and heparin. They also admitted me to the hospital, much to my dismay. Now with an IV attached to me, and shots in the stomach you would think that a person should feel real bad, but after one day, I felt as good as new. I was the healthiest person in the hospital, so I thought. every day, more shots, more pills, more antibiotics, and drawing blood for testing. I was starting to feel like a pin cushion. After the third day, I was feeling like I was in prison, rather than a hospital. The food was starting to taste bad, tired of TV, and the only saving grace was having my netbook and internet access. There is nothing like have unlimited access to the internet when in the hospital. And I really had good nurses and nurse Techs. I really appreciated them. They worked with me so I could get a good night sleep by not checking on me at night or waking me at midnight to do vitals. After a week, I finally obtained the level of warfarin in my blood that the Doctor would let me go home. Now I will be taking it for 6 months.
But all this is just to lead into what I really have to say. Anyone can be surprised when you find a blood clot somewhere in your body. They hurt. So since most people who read this are addicted to the computer, spend long hours sitting, let me just remind you to get out of your chair every hour, walk around and move some blood. When driving a distance, stop and take breaks. I do not want any of you to go through what I am doing. It is not fun. The pills are not bad, but the testing never ends while you are on medication, your diet is changed because of foods that affect warfarin, and you are to some degree limited in what you do when your blood count is wrong. This is dangerous stuff. You can bleed to death internally or externally if the med’s are not at the right level. There are technical pages on the internet that describe all this, but be honest, how many of you will look it up? Since you will not, just keep in mind that blood clots can be prevented in most cases by just moving around more often. Simple and sweet, MOVE.