Indeed, it’s life threatening if any part of the clot breaks off and makes its way to the lung. Recall NBC News Reporter, David Bloom, who died of DVT while embedded with the troops in the push to Baghdad; his long, cramped ride in a tank was cited as the reason he developed the fatal clot.
Cancer related?
A long, cramped plane ride coming home from a ski trip (with old friends, right) to Utah in February is a leading theory behind my clot as well. That, and cancer is known to alter the coagulation properties in the blood. So doctors think it may have been the combination. But no one knows for sure.
It hurt like hell
When a problem first appeared within days of my biopsy, my left calf swelled up and the area behind my knee became discolored and swollen. Looked like a Baker’s Cyst, not too big a deal. It was painful for about 10 days. But low on my priority list in the aftermath of the PC diagnosis.
After walking around with the undiagnosed leg problem for almost a month, I finally saw an orthopod, who ordered an ultrasound that found the clot. Actually, it’s a long fibrous thing – think 8-inches of twined yarn.
My doctor immediately put me on heparin and coumadin to stabilize the clot and thin my blood. The clot should dissolve over time – 6 weeks to 3 months.
Timing is everything
If the blood clot had been discovered before permanent gold markers -- the key to IGRT's targeted therapy (see Part 3) -- had been inserted into my prostate, doctors would’ve put off the radiation treatment for months. The DVT posed a more imminent danger.
Inserting the markers was a minimally bloody procedure. But no one would’ve taken the risk of me bleeding out internally because of my thinned blood due to the coumadin. Delaying radiation may have changed my overall treatment options as well.
So I was pretty fortunate – twice, actually. The clot didn’t break off. And I stayed on track with cancer treatments.
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