#AwarenessMatters

First off, I want to thank you for stopping by to read this.  And last week’s post.  I never thought that something I posted would get that kind of traffic.  It was hard to make the post last week about something so personal, but I’m hoping that my slight discomfort about being so open can help someone else.

March is Blood Clot Awareness Month and it’s unfortunate how few people know about the damage that blood clots can do.  It just isn’t a big story in the media, and as someone who worked in the media, I can tell you that it never occurred to me.  It almost seems like a freak occurrence – to either get or be killed by a blood clot.  But if you have the risk factors (or risk activities), it can happen.  It happened to me.

In my last post I detailed what my pulmonary embolism felt like (feel free to scroll down until you hit Snoop Dogg, it’s right above there) – but I should stress that my symptoms won’t be the same as someone else’s.  I didn’t have the leg pain and swelling that come from a clot that started as DVT.  Yes, I had the chest pain, but I wasn’t short of breath (only when I tried to take a deep breath).  What I had was a bilateral pulmonary embolism with no DVT component (we checked – it wasn’t real easy getting an ultrasound while I was still having a panic attack, but things still got done).

So what do you need to know about blood clots? Sara at BloodClotRecovery.net can tell you more:

These two statistics kill me (oh yes I did):

• 1 in 3 people who are diagnosed with PE will die.
• In 25 percent of people who experience a PE, the first symptom is sudden death.

I’ll let that sink in for a minute.

Know the signs, know the risks, and know what to do if this happens.  And feel free to reach out to me.  #AwarenessMatters

– e

_{PS – I’m not a religious person – I’ve had quite a few differences of opinion with the church I was raised in, but I wanted to leave a footnote here thanking St. Joseph for protecting me from a sudden death. #StJoeIsMyHomeboy.}