[ back ]
Preventive measures save lives
(by Jennifer Botkin Phillips - May 28, 2008)
It was time to leave for a commitment I’d made, but two music industry icons were on Oprah; Tina Turner, 68 and
Cher , 62, and I found it hard to tear myself from the television screen. These two unbelievable women were going to perform together after the next commercial, and that, I knew, would be something to behold. Tina, famous for her gyrating legs that go on forever, and
Cher , famous for her outrageous costumes and sultry voice, were spellbinding performers.
As the last second of the program ended, I switched off the TV faster than a cat lurching for a mouse, and dashed out the door. If I was going to get on 287 South in 5 o’clock traffic and make it to Morristown Memorial Hospital for the May meeting of WomenHeart, the national coalition for women with heart disease, www.womenheart.org, an hour before the hospital program I was attending; “An Evening with Melanie Bloom: Understanding Deep Vein Thrombosis,” there was no time to dilly-dally.
It would be my first time to meet with the ladies of WomenHeart. The North Jersey Support Network Coordinator, Suzanne, and I had been e-mailing for a couple years. The group decided to combine their monthly meeting and go to the program Melanie Bloom was presenting on deep vein thrombosis (DVT), at
Morristown
Memorial
Hospital . In spite of the distance and spiking gas prices, I decided this was a worthy event and looked forward to learning more about Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT).
Melanie Bloom’s story captured our hearts in 2003, when her husband, David Bloom, a 39 year-old father of three, and NBC News Correspondent, died from complications related to DVT, while covering the war in . The more she learned about DVT and the complications, the more her desire grew to help raise public awareness of this silent and serious condition that took her husband’s life. Thus, in March 2005, she joined the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombosis and now serves as the National Patient Spokesperson for the Coalition to Prevent DVT, www.preventdvt.org.
We’ve all heard about long airline flights and how important it is to get up and walk. It can be challenging to face down a food cart along with a determined flight attendant, but Mrs. Bloom enlightened the audience that one of the risk factors for DVT includes restricted mobility. She shared a preventive measure for DVT when on long flights and that is to pump your feet as if pumping the gas pedal in your vehicle.
According to the Coalition to Prevent Deep Vein Thrombus, the reality of DVT is that if a thrombus (blood clot) forms in one of the large veins, typically in the lower limb, it can lead to either partially or completely blocked circulation leading to a pulmonary embolism (PE) requiring immediate medical attention. While the risk can be reduced, approximately 600,000 American are hospitalized every year for DVT and its foremost complication, PE. According to the coalition, DVT-related PE is the most common cause of preventable hospital deaths.
Other risk factors or triggering events for DVT include but are not limited to obesity, congestive heart failure or respiratory failure, cancer, smoking, surgery, dehydration, and inflammatory bowel disease.
Dr. Bruce Mintz, Vascular Specialist, also spoke and provided the audience with medical facts and statistics relating to deep vein thrombosis. He mentioned that pregnancy is even included as a risk factor for DVT.
I learned that when it comes to our health, we have more control than previously thought and that the risk for DVT can be reduced if we are aware of the risk factors, signs and symptoms.
David Bloom had called from to talk with his wife, Melanie, and family of three little girls. Mrs. Bloom shared that she had never heard of DVT prior to her husband’s untimely death from DVT, and during that phone call, he casually mentioned discomfort in his leg. While on location for his media correspondence he was mostly in tight quarters either for sleeping or his work. After his death, it was later learned that David Bloom also had an inherited blood disorder, a contributing factor. David Bloom’s brother was tested and he also carries the inherited gene.
“I know I need to have my daughters screened, and I will, but I keep putting it off because I don’t want to know if they also have the gene,” Mrs. Bloom said, as her eyes glazed over.
As the evening concluded, I knew that in spite of the trek to
Morristown to learn about DVT, awareness and prevention, my new knowledge might one day be lifesaving.
Until next time… Top Blonde… on the run!
[ back ]
