**~Carebear~**

I'm a Prosthetist ( I make artificial limbs.) I live in CALIFORNIA!!!! I just moved here a year ago, and I am still in love with the weather. I work for a manufacturer and travel the country working with other prosthetists and their patients on how to use our products correctly. I recently had a Pulmonary Embolism. I rolled my ankle and tore two ligaments. I was in a cast and I flew from MI to CA. I didn't get up once on the flight. About a week later it became very hard for me to breathe. I thought I had a chest cold, so I went to the doctor. I ended up in the ICU on oxygen and monitors for a week. I was given TPA, which is a clot buster, because the blood clots in my legs and my lungs were very large. The ones in my lungs were putting pressure on my heart and could have caused permanent complications. There is a 10% chance you could die from taking TPA. So that was a big decision. 1 in 5 people with a pulmonary embolism dies from it. 20% of those die within an hour. I thought only older people got blood clots from flying. But it happens to young people more than you know! Drinking water also helps because it naturally thins your blood. But more importantly it makes you get up and go to the bathroom. Blood clots could cause strokes, limb loss, or pulmonary embloisms. That's my public service announcment. Thanks for listening!!