This is certainly the season of giving.
I am VERY LUCKY to have come across this very special person.
I am VERY LUCKY and now you are lucky as well because this clot survivor is about to unleash a whole lot of giving as she gets to share her very unique story with all of us...
Catch the inspiration and don't let go of it.
But I will move aside and let you read and enjoy this story...
"
Hi, my name is Alisa Dunlap and I am honored to be the ClotBuster Athlete
for December 2013. I’ve been an
endurance athlete since 2007, the year I ran my first half marathon, and an
athlete my whole life. I grew up in the
pool and played water polo in high school and part of college. I took up recreational running at the end of
high school and never stopped! I enjoy
challenging myself and pushing to my limits.
In 2009, I started triathlons and just a few short weeks ago completed
my first 140.6 distance in Arizona.
I am happy to report that I am thriving post-DVT! While I still have to be careful, I am not on
blood thinners any longer. I am however
still sportin’ awesome compression gear, pretty much all the time. I do notice my right leg if I have to do
excessive standing or sitting. I am
mindful to keep my leg elevated when I can and to take short walks throughout
the day. I still get nervous about
traveling but have made the cross country trek once and have traveled in a car
on multiple trips. My travel tips are:
compression and hydration. If you’re
hydrated it will force you to get up and walk about an airplane for the
lavatories or to stop at rest stops if traveling my car. If you’re reading this and you were recently
diagnosed, it does get easier and you’ll learn what you need to do to thrive.
I found the ClotBuster blog and community in June 2013, right after my
own DVT diagnosis. Knowing that there
were other endurance athletes with clots thriving in their sports really helped
me through my own recovery. I had always
thought of blood clots as something that ailed only the elderly or those that
hadn’t taken good care of themselves---not endurance athletes. Come to find out, blood clots are something
all endurance athletes should be mindful about.
Educate yourself my friends and I hope that you never have to go through
what I went through.
The ClotBuster himself asked me to share a little bit about my clotting
episode, so, here it goes.
On May
4th, 2.5 miles into a long run, I stepped on a lip in the road, fell
and broke my 5th metatarsal on my right foot. My husband actually had to carry me about 2
miles back to the car as I couldn’t put any weight on my foot. About a week later, we took a trip down to
California to visit our family, little did I know that traveling without a lot
of movement with a broken foot, while on birth control may not be the best
idea.
Arriving
in California, I certainly felt like there was something off about my leg but I
thought maybe I had pulled some tendons when I broke my foot and that the pain
was just now showing up. When I got back
to Portland, I contacted my doctor and while he said it was possible that I had
a clot it was unlikely. So, I continued
to rehab my foot.
I was
still on crutches and while the pain in my foot was getting better the pain in
my leg was getting worse. In fact, my foot was well enough to go crutchless 4
weeks after my break. However, three
days after ditching my crutches I woke up to throbbing pain in my calf and
behind my knee. While I could bear
weight on my foot I couldn’t on my leg, I ended up having to crawl to the
bathroom that night and on that long crawl to the bathroom I decided first
thing in the morning I would call my doctor.
I got in right away and he did a rudimentary scan on my leg with a
mobile ultrasound. You know it’s
probably not a good sign when he calls in three other doctors to take a
look. After three different docs
reviewed the screen they sent me straight to the hospital for a full
ultrasound. And on that day, June 7th
(5 weeks after breaking my foot), I was diagnosed with multiple blood clots
(one in every vein in my right leg: femoral, popliteal, posterior and anterior
tibial, and the peroneal.) As I did more
and more research on clots, I got more and more scared.
I was
immediately put on blood thinners. For
12 days I had to self administer (well, Justin did the first couple), lovenox
injections. After 12 days, I switched to
oral warafin, the generic for coumadin.
Being an endurance athlete training for their first 140.6 race I had all
kinds of questions for my doc. She was
great, so patient with me, answering everything I wanted (NEEDED) to know. How long would I have to be on thinners? Did I have to stop eating my coveted kale
salads and smoothies? How long would the
pain last? (that was probably my first question) How long would I be out of
training commission? (that was probably my second question as I had already
spent 4 weeks on crutches really only able to do some core work, pulling in the
pool and seated arm weights) Were the
clots going to limit my ability to train once the pain went away? Was the
ironman out of the question? Could I
cycle outside? What was my bleeding
risk? The questions went on and on and
on. The most scary of course, how serious
is this and is there a possibility of an embolism and could that lead to
death? The answer to that last one is
what kept me up at night. It was serious
and yes there is always a possibility of embolism which could in fact result in
death----ahhhhhhh. However, my doctor
reassured me that I was doing everything right and that my risk, while
certainly higher than the average person, was in check, especially now that I
was on thinners.
I
stayed on blood thinners for a little over 5 months. In that time, I was outta commission from
training for about 2 months. During my 4
weeks on crutches, I really only pulled in the pool and did arm weights in my
living room. When I was able to ditch
the crutches I started taking short walks around my neighborhood and eventually
got on my bike trainer for 30 minutes at a time. 9 weeks after breaking my foot and 5 weeks
after my DVT diagnosis, I went from my first test “run.” I ran for maybe 5-10 minutes, in spurts of 30
seconds at a time. I slowly worked my
way back to sport. I cycled outside for
the first time about 6 weeks after my DVT diagnosis and ended up completing two
century rides while on thinners. I
consulted with my medical team (both my doctor and my warafin nurse) every time
I tried something new. They encouraged
me to keep at it but to stay safe in the process---I ALWAYS wore my helmet, I
tried to cycle on roads less traveled by cars, I cycled with friends when I
could, I always took my cell phone and I bought myself a new RoadID with my
diagnosis and medicine clearly listed on the bracelet.
I took
good care of myself and on November 17, 2013, not only did I finish my first
140.6 I did well, exceeding the time goal I had set for myself. If you’re reading this after being recently
diagnosed you CAN get back to your sport and succeed! My advice to those reading with recent
diagnosis: listen to your body-you know yourself best, use your medical professionals as a
resource—stay off of Dr. Google!, slowly ease back into your sport, set
ambitious but realistic goals for yourself, don’t be afraid to ask for help and
probably most important, stay positive!
While clots are something I will always have to be aware of they aren’t
going to hold me back from dreaming big and pursuing my goals."
What do you think?
These stories never stop inspiring me nor amaze. How was she able to do an IM? I can't even get through a half without grimacing and wondering how on earth would I double what I just did...
Alisa's dedication to not let blood clots stop her or slow her down earns all of my admiration.
Watch out for this lady on a course near you... as she will be blowing past all of us if we don't shape up. The only thing missing is her very own set of polka-dots to allow the STOPTHECLOT message to spread even farther.
Here is wishing you and all those with you THE VERY BEST HOLIDAY SEASON. May the new year bring you all the happiness, joy, good health and fortune you can handle!
Thanks for reading,
The Clot Buster
