Thread: Blood Clots, DVT, and the Future Pussification of My Skiing

Also, hippy pow turns are always enjoyable, no matter how extreme or rad one is.

Exactly.

Still have to wait for the lab test results until next week. Sucks...uncertainty is the worst. (well, still kicking alive and I'll try to live on a really "from day to day" basis now )

No problems on the blood coagulation factors. Or any structural problems (needing later surgery).

Best x-mas present ever. I will back on skis by March (and off the f****ing rat poison )

Should be careful with the right shoulder from now on but I guess I'll cut off some climbing and that's it (skiing and MTB are more fun anyway!). I'd like to surf but we don't have any decent waves anyway...so, for the trips I guess I need just better preparation (swimming), more rest days, more stretching etc. Anyway, so glad that I can still take normal skiing/mtb etc. falls/beating without being scared of internal bleeding and such.

Peace and let it snow!

Congratulations, Jiehkkevarri!

Thanks!

What a relief

I am going to see a specialist soon and consult him a bit about skiing, possible future restrictions (in sports) and the possible length of the cure etc. (there's still hope that I get back to the action a bit earlier....but 2 months isn't that long after all, so at the moment I am still happy anyway).

congrats man! looming uncertainty in sports you love with chronic health problems just blows. I spent some time away from BC skiing for fear my left lung would spontaneously explode and leave me with no good means of rescue while my vascular system would gradually shut down! I have much less worry now in the BC (but I'm missing this season for another stupid health reason). Congrats to getting back out there in March, certainly makes you enjoy each minute that much more!

Wow, I feel your pain. Its great to hear you are doing better.

I had an aneurysm in my subclavian artery that caused clot to form from my collarbone to my fingertips. I had the whole shebang of symptoms pain, weakness, cold sensitivity, with a touch of necrosis. Luckily I formed colaterals too, but still needed surgery to save the arm. They resected my first rib and gave me a heparin infused gore-tex graft to bypass the aneurysm. I had a pretty uncomfortable experience with anticoagulents. When I started the injections, I had just finished a 24 hour race, and didn't have much in the way of fatty tissue around my stomach. I was spotted with bruises like a Dalmatian. In the hospitals they put me on the heavy stuff, TNK and others for days, which even caused me to bleed out once. I was initially discharged on asprin, but after complications, was put on lovanox again followed by a huge dosage of coumain. It was my GP, a skier, who really put the fear of god into me over trying to be active on those anticoagulents. My specialist had given the go ahead for a little skiing and I took full license, until my GP watched me ski and gave me an earful. (I guess I wasn't inspiring confidence). During this time, my bypass clotted out three times, at one point partially restricting bloodflow to my brain. I was very lucky to live through it, and required multiple surgeries including a complete graft replacement using vein harvested from my leg to get through everything. I am almost a year out from my last procedure and still don't have my complete ROM, but am feeling much stronger. My arm will always be a little colder, and still does not feel as strong. I definitely lost a few seasons, had to give up white water kayaking, and haven't been able to rock climb in any respectable way for at least three years. I have been very lucky, and am happy to say that I am skiing again and off of the coumadin. I will be taking a large asprin every morning for the rest of my life, and even paper cuts make me bleed quickly, but it won't make me hemorrhage.

So much of the process is out of our control. I feel like you had some of that same frustration. Having fought that mental battle of loosing seasons and come so close to dying has given me an enormous opportunity to re-evaluate my life and how I want to live the rest of it.

I live in a small town in Alaska and I have just turned 23. I work in health care and have been making the most of this incredible snow year. Something like 350 inches have fallen in the pass so far. I'll be taking my health as it comes, and will try not to let staying alive keep me from living.

Thanks for sharing your story. Get after it! Good luck.

Thanks for sharing your story. Get after it! Good luck.

Same to you. And wow: that was pretty heavy! Gives some sense of proportion for sure.

Power and good vibes to you...it is great to hear that you can still enjoy skiing so fully (and life in general). I really believe what you said about re-evalution etc. (and I am also in the opinion that that's just "unfair" for a young guy like you...but as they say "unexplored are the ways of the Lord"...so maybe in the end you end up just being stronger and more aware of all the good things in this world! And I definitely hope so too).

What I am afraid of is that the the symptoms (and anticoagulation cures) will come and go again, kind of like you described. No doc has given any reasonable long-time prognosis for me yet. And that's why I am about to see a specialist, a cardiologist soon - the guy is also an avid sportsman...so I guess he'll know some more/can help my case more that the previous docs?

Good luck to all of you guys...you (and we) will eventually pull out of troubles, and eventually end up appreciating every turn (single track, route, wave etc) more than ever before!

Merry Christmas. Glad your cardio is a sportsman. I think if he can empathize with you, your care will be that much better.

Originally Posted by Flotsam

Having fought that mental battle of loosing seasons and come so close to dying has given me an enormous opportunity to re-evaluate my life and how I want to live the rest of it.

I live in a small town in Alaska and I have just turned 23. I work in health care and have been making the most of this incredible snow year. Something like 350 inches have fallen in the pass so far. I'll be taking my health as it comes, and will try not to let staying alive keep me from living.

Way to keep on keeping on. We should be fearful people, but we should not allow ourselves to be terrorized by our fears ... Because life is a gift and it is a waste to not live it in a way that best fulfills our souls and enriches those around us. A very brave friend of mine, who had leukemia 3 times before she was 30, taught me that. Stay strong, brother.

Jiehkevarri--Classic Paget-Schroetter is thought to be due to compression of the vein by the first rib and abnormal ligaments attached to it (see flotsam's post-although he had an artery problem). There is no good way to identify the abnormal structures, except in the minority of cases where there is an extra rib above the highest rib (cervical rib). Unfortunately there is not good information on the chance of another blood clot if the rib is removed or if it is not. There are exercises which can strengthen the muscles that shrug the shoulders--mostly traps--that may help. In general elevating the arm (as in driving) increases the compression of the vein, so not climbing is a good idea. I'm assuming the blood tests you had to rule out a genetic cause of the blood clot was done after you were off anticoagulants for a while--the tests aren't valid while you're anticoagulated. The question in your case is whether or not to have the first rib removed. The party line, at least among vascular surgeons, who are the doctors most likely to do the surgery, is to have it done. Having done a lot of these operations, though, I'm not convinced that there is enough evidence to recommend it, especially if the clot was cleared completely by the thrombolysis. If you do get another clot you should definitely consider it.

Old goat - that's great info! Thank you very much.

I'm assuming the blood tests you had to rule out a genetic cause of the blood clot was done after you were off anticoagulants for a while--the tests aren't valid while you're anticoagulated

Yes, they took the blood sample right after the DVT was diagnosed - which was before I started any anticoagulant medicine (right after that I started injecting Klexane, and after the thrombolysis I got the mentioned cure of varfarin (Marevan)

Having done a lot of these operations, though, I'm not convinced that there is enough evidence to recommend it, especially if the clot was cleared completely by the thrombolysis.

Yes, the clot is completely cleared. I have had an understanding that here in Euroland (I live in Finland) this operation (removing the first rib) is much rarer...and there isn't a uniform opinion (among the docs) whether the operation is needed or not.

n general elevating the arm (as in driving) increases the compression of the vein, so not climbing is a good idea.

Ok, that is in line with the common sense too. But this and all the above mentioned things are why I am going to see the mentioned cardiologist next week.

I guess I am more than ok to live without climbing but I would really like to be able to surf at least here and there in the future too...(but we'll see...I guess if that is not possible, you just have to adapt!)

EDIT

here are exercises which can strengthen the muscles that shrug the shoulders--mostly traps--that may help

Ok, that is also very good to hear. I think I will do all I can to to rehabilitate the shoulder!

I'm not surprised surgery is less common in Finland--in the USA the profit motive is supreme. I am surprised that a Finn surfs--elsewhere I assume. I wouldn't think surfing would be a problem, but listen to your docs, not some stranger on the internet--who knows if I'm really a doc.

who knows if I'm really a doc.

You are right and I thought about that too...

Good info anyway...and yes I am going to listen my doc for sure.

As for surfing...yes, you can surf here now and then...crappy onshore windmush (mostly) and often brutally cold:

http://moralesedwin.wordpress.com/20...on-surfer-mag/

So, yes I surf mostly elsewhere (trips to France, Spain, Canary Island etc.). It's been really stormy this fall and we've got surprisingly big (storm onshore) waves here at times - but for a family man the surf here is pretty tough to score cause you have to be on the right spot just on the right time, the good conditions usually only last for some hours!

EDIT: Funny that in the above article Finland is referred as "a socialist country"...that's kind of misconception but we have e.g. a free public health care system (that works pretty well too...although e.g. I am going to use private services from now on. The public system takes cares of the acute cases and does it very well but in many cases there is still need for private docs/clinics too)