We have a friend who broke her foot (jumping off a bale of hay). She was in a cast for 6 weeks and just had the cast removed on Wednesday. On Thursday morning she was feeling fine and looking forward to having a walking cast so she could get back to work. Thursday afternoon, she was feeling a little tired, so she went into the bedroom to take a nap. Her 17 year old son found her later that afternoon dead. Apparently she had developed a blood clot.

I know there are several nurses here and I have a question ... is this common? What are the symptoms of a blood clot? Is there anything that can be done to avoid this? It just seems INCREDIBLE to me that someone could die from a broken foot! I guess since I know I have osteoporosis, I'm really kind of worried about this.

Thanks for any input.

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Linda

An acquaintance from work had a similar thing happen - minor injury that developed a clot....apparently his dislodged and traveled to the brain...something like that, it's been 10-15 years, so I may not be remembering it quite right. He was in his thirties with 4 young children. Very sad.

My sympathy to you and the family, Linda.

cj/

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I am not a nurse, but about 5 years ago, my husband hurt his back and couldn't really move. He was told to stay in bed. He wound up getting a blood clot from being in bed all that time. He had to be hospitalized and be put on medication....

If your friend was on bed rest due to the broken foot, it is possible that she got the clot from that.

I guess when some one is in bed for long periods of time, they are supposed to at least try and get up and move around to circulate the blood.

I am so sorry to hear about your friend. What a horrible thing.....

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That happened to my Grandma. She broke her foot after a fall outside a store. Wore a cast for awhile. Right before she was supposed to get it off, she out of the blue, threw a blood clot that caused a heart attack and she died.

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Last Aug a dear friend of mine since the 4th grade (and we spent 30 years working together and retired within 6 months of each other) broke her foot. She also developed a clot and her family found her dead in her house after not hearing from her for a day and a half.

Also my neighbor lady (53 years old) had knee surgery in Feb. On the 3rd day after surgery she took a nap on the sofa and her family came home at lunchtime and found her dead from a blood clot.

I just wonder if we should all take a blood thinner after an injury/break or surgery?0

I was just wondering the same thing. Would those baby aspirin a day that some of us take for our hearts help that too?

How horrible. I'm so sorry to hear that.

From what I've heard, after any bone break, especially a big bone (leg, etc..) a clot is a big risk. Now in the hospital, after anyone has any orthopedic surgery, we get written up for sending anyone to the floor with out SCD's, which are pumps that you put on the pt's legs and they constrict the legs every few seconds to keep the blood flowing adequately, when someone is not up and moving around. Kind of like, if you have a blood clot, it's not on our watch.

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my cousins sister in law was 23 and had broke her leg. she had went to a scan to look for clots got a clean report went home afterwards took a nap. Her husband found her dead when he got home from work. she had a clot and they didnt see it or whatever. that was scary to me.

steph

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Wow! This is a scary thread. How awful to die of something like that!

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It happens sadly, I had a blood clot in 2006 that traveled to my lung and the ER missed it and sent me home, I had been very sick in the weeks prior to it with first a kidney stone and infection and then pneumonia, I was pretty much bedridden and I was lucky when they found the clot the next morning and called me to come back in.

My best friends cousin wasnt so lucky she injured her knee, got short of breath on the plane coming home went to the ER, they were discharging her and as she was getting ready to go went to the bathroom and dropped dead she was 27 years old. I sometimes suspect in spite of what the autopsy on my SIL said about the enlarged heart and drugs in her system that based on the symptoms she had prior to her death she may have had a blood clot break loose, she was over 300 lbs and spent her days sitting around the house and doing nothing but drugs and eating.

It is scary for sure and I seem to think it happens more often than we realize because of today's lifestyles.

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Wow, that is scary. I've heard of people dying from blood clots, but didn't realize a broken bone could cause them.

Lisa

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they was doing something with moms neck for dialysis, they finished up, told her to get dressed. When they came back into the room she was on the floor. whatever they did loosened a clot and she was in a coma for a couple months.

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I had 2 pulmonary embolisms, 1 in each lung, a few years ago after a surgery. I wore those leg pumps that ballmom mentioned, but apparently they didn't help. I now have an IVC filter that should stop a clot if it were to happen again.

They didn't die from a broken foot - they died from complications from an injury. You can die if you get tetnus from a rose but it wasn't the scratch that killed you. The scratch just let the disease enter your bloodstream. People still die from pneumonia and the flu, even from seasickness. Intense pain can even bring on a heart attack that could kill someone.

Any broken bone or shock to the body can cause you to develop a blood clot and childbirth can trigger them but most people don't get them. It's little comfort to those who do but statistically, it's unlikely that you'll develop a blood clot that kills you so I wouldn't worry about it.

"it's unlikely that you'll develop a blood clot that kills you so I wouldn't worry about it"
That is NOT true. Many people die of cardiac arrest which ultimately can be linked back to a blood clot that was missed and went to the lungs or heart causing an arrest.

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