Full Transcript for Sherry Ott and Life’s Unexpected Journey

00:02:31,189 Our guest today is somebody whose ambition and joy has taken her through countries and communities the world over. 28 00:02:31,504 --> 00:02:37,397 Please join me in welcoming writer, blogger, world traveler, and blood clot advocate. 29 00:02:37,397 --> 00:02:39,440 This is Sheri Ott. 30 00:02:41,327 --> 00:02:47,949 Hello, I'm Sherry Ott, and I'm a travel writer, blogger, content creator. 31 00:02:48,189 --> 00:02:51,630 And I've been doing that since 2006. 32 00:02:51,630 --> 00:02:58,332 So I go way, way back before we ever even called it a blog or talked about social media. 33 00:02:58,332 --> 00:03:00,393 But I've been covering travel since 2006. 34 00:03:00,393 --> 00:03:02,973 So we're on 20 years now. 35 00:03:03,233 --> 00:03:05,814 And that's my primary job. 36 00:03:05,814 --> 00:03:09,255 And that also means I travel a lot. 37 00:03:09,457 --> 00:03:14,717 I just got back from Panama two days ago and will be leaving again soon. 38 00:03:15,357 --> 00:03:17,797 I had been working in corporate for 14 years. 39 00:03:17,797 --> 00:03:24,297 Ever since I got out of college, I had moved around the country chasing my job, I would say, and my career. 40 00:03:24,617 --> 00:03:29,517 Important thing to know is that I didn't even have a passport until I was 30 years old. 41 00:03:29,517 --> 00:03:33,597 So I was a very late bloomer when it came to travel, at least international travel. 42 00:03:33,597 --> 00:03:36,817 I I grew up, my parents took us on road trips. 43 00:03:36,817 --> 00:03:39,025 We were well versed in the United States. 44 00:03:39,025 --> 00:03:45,148 But I got a passport when I was 30 and I started doing a few international trips and I really liked it. 45 00:03:45,349 --> 00:03:47,550 And I kind of caught that bug. 46 00:03:47,550 --> 00:03:58,556 And around the same time, so now I'm in my say mid thirties, I also had kind of decided that I didn't know if I wanted to be in this career that I was in, in corporate working in 47 00:03:58,556 --> 00:04:00,517 IT for the rest of my life. 48 00:04:00,517 --> 00:04:03,038 I didn't know if that's what I wanted to do. 49 00:04:03,058 --> 00:04:05,379 My career weirdly kind of chose me. 50 00:04:05,379 --> 00:04:06,672 I didn't choose it. 51 00:04:06,672 --> 00:04:08,212 It's not what I studied in school. 52 00:04:08,212 --> 00:04:17,652 I kind of fell into it and it was really good and lucrative, but I just felt like I needed to take a moment to go, is this really what I want to be doing into my retirement? 53 00:04:17,652 --> 00:04:24,372 And I really wanted to travel and I wanted to travel more and I never had enough vacation like most Americans. 54 00:04:24,572 --> 00:04:28,952 And I also wanted to travel while I was physically able. 55 00:04:28,952 --> 00:04:31,332 Like I was 35, 36 years old. 56 00:04:31,332 --> 00:04:32,512 I was very in shape. 57 00:04:32,512 --> 00:04:34,726 I wanted to go climb Kilimanjaro. 58 00:04:34,726 --> 00:04:41,508 Like I had all these plans and I was worried that if I waited until I retired that I may not be able to do some of these things. 59 00:04:41,508 --> 00:04:44,929 So that's kind of what started it. 60 00:04:44,929 --> 00:04:47,909 And in 2006, I quit my corporate job. 61 00:04:48,029 --> 00:04:55,611 I sold a lot of what I owned, sublet my apartment in New York City and I took off on a flight to Africa. 62 00:04:55,811 --> 00:05:02,364 And the plan was to do a career break for one year and travel around the world doing all the things I wanted to do. 63 00:05:02,364 --> 00:05:06,535 that was active and see places, do all the bucket list stuff kind of. 64 00:05:06,535 --> 00:05:10,096 And then I would come back and figure out what I was going to do with my life. 65 00:05:10,116 --> 00:05:13,734 And as you may guess, I got on the road. 66 00:05:13,734 --> 00:05:15,777 I absolutely loved it. 67 00:05:15,777 --> 00:05:20,318 And I found that I really loved traveling in developing countries. 68 00:05:20,338 --> 00:05:22,274 I was fascinated with Asia. 69 00:05:22,274 --> 00:05:26,540 And I knew within three months that I didn't want to go back to what I was doing. 70 00:05:26,540 --> 00:05:32,177 But I didn't know how to be able to stay on the road and make a living traveling because 71 00:05:32,177 --> 00:05:37,509 At that time, really the only thing you could do was teach English as a second language. 72 00:05:37,530 --> 00:05:39,611 So that's actually what I pursued. 73 00:05:39,611 --> 00:05:47,755 After my year of traveling around the world, I went and lived in Vietnam teaching English as a second language for a year. 74 00:05:47,755 --> 00:05:49,436 That would have been in like 2008. 75 00:05:49,436 --> 00:05:54,028 I joined social media really early when all of that was coming out because I had time. 76 00:05:54,028 --> 00:05:55,179 I was in Vietnam. 77 00:05:55,179 --> 00:05:56,840 I had time on my hands. 78 00:05:56,900 --> 00:06:00,401 So I got into Facebook and Instagram and Twitter at that time. 79 00:06:00,407 --> 00:06:01,264 And 80 00:06:01,264 --> 00:06:07,699 I also, when I took off on that initial trip, I started a little website and I called it Otzworld. 81 00:06:07,699 --> 00:06:16,667 It was just for my parents and my friends to be able to see what I was doing and a place for me to put my photography. 82 00:06:16,667 --> 00:06:17,727 That was it. 83 00:06:17,988 --> 00:06:25,714 So I wrote about all of my solo travels that first year and then living in Vietnam for a year on my own. 84 00:06:25,714 --> 00:06:28,306 And I amassed people following me. 85 00:06:28,306 --> 00:06:31,344 Like I didn't even know how, I didn't try, that's for sure. 86 00:06:31,344 --> 00:06:35,179 because we didn't really know about blogging back then. 87 00:06:35,180 --> 00:06:42,730 So that's what kind of put me into this other travel career was that, was kind of being in the right place at the right time. 88

00:06:44,858 --> 00:06:46,479 It was really different back then. 89 00:06:46,479 --> 00:06:49,060 You didn't hear about these stories that often. 90 00:06:49,280 --> 00:06:56,103 If I look back, I don't even know how I got the idea in my head, quite frankly, because I didn't have any travel mentors. 91 00:06:56,103 --> 00:06:58,958 I didn't see other people doing this like we do today. 92 00:06:58,958 --> 00:07:01,705 I just really wanted to go explore. 93 00:07:01,705 --> 00:07:04,082 So yeah, I amassed this big following. 94 00:07:04,082 --> 00:07:11,679 A lot of it, I will say, was women around my age at that time who wanted to travel, solo travelers. 95 00:07:11,679 --> 00:07:13,650 I wrote a lot about solo travel. 96 00:07:13,670 --> 00:07:15,511 and I was learning as I was going. 97 00:07:15,511 --> 00:07:17,832 I had never even stayed in a hostel before. 98 00:07:17,832 --> 00:07:21,514 So like everything was new and I wanted to share it with everyone. 99 00:07:21,514 --> 00:07:22,490 It was really fun. 100 00:07:22,490 --> 00:07:23,834 It was a fun time. 101 00:07:24,355 --> 00:07:28,907 So by that time, 2018, I was fully a professional travel blogger. 102 00:07:28,907 --> 00:07:33,058 That was in our vocabulary and that's what I was doing. 103 00:07:33,199 --> 00:07:40,952 And I had taken on a little personal project years earlier that I was finishing off and that's what was taking me to India. 104 00:07:41,112 --> 00:07:50,265 So because I was single and didn't have any kids of my own and never had a travel mentor, I had six nieces, no nephews, just six nieces. 105 00:07:50,265 --> 00:07:56,566 And I decided I wanted to really build my relationship with them since I wasn't planning on having kids. 106 00:07:56,566 --> 00:08:03,462 So I started and said when they each turned 16 years old, I would take them anywhere in the world they wanted to go. 107 00:08:03,462 --> 00:08:05,489 And it would just be me and them. 108 00:08:05,489 --> 00:08:10,090 And I would hopefully be their travel mentor and get them into the travel world. 109 00:08:10,090 --> 00:08:10,824 So. 110 00:08:10,824 --> 00:08:15,447 This trip in 2018 was my actual last, I called it the niece project. 111 00:08:15,447 --> 00:08:17,328 It was my last niece project trip. 112 00:08:17,328 --> 00:08:19,829 I wrote about this whole thing. 113 00:08:19,829 --> 00:08:21,240 I probably could write a book about it. 114 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:22,870 It's all on my website. 115 00:08:23,251 --> 00:08:26,362 anyway, and this was the last niece that I was traveling with. 116 00:08:26,362 --> 00:08:27,833 This was niece number six. 117 00:08:27,833 --> 00:08:29,994 So this had been going on for years. 118 00:08:30,535 --> 00:08:40,552 And even though I was well versed now in traveling with my nieces, every one of them were always, it was always stressful to take off and go because all of a sudden I had this 119 00:08:40,552 --> 00:08:43,093 kid, this teenager with me that I was responsible for. 120 00:08:43,093 --> 00:08:48,116 And what made this one a little bit harder was she had never been out of the country before. 121 00:08:48,116 --> 00:08:53,559 And she chose when she could go anywhere in the world, she chose to go to India. 122 00:08:54,300 --> 00:08:57,501 So that was a big, big step. 123 00:08:57,501 --> 00:09:00,823 And out of all the nieces, that was definitely the hardest country. 124 00:09:00,823 --> 00:09:03,605 Now, I had been to India a number of times. 125 00:09:03,605 --> 00:09:05,859 I had raced a rickshaw across India. 126 00:09:05,859 --> 00:09:08,277 I had volunteered and taught English in India. 127 00:09:08,277 --> 00:09:09,768 So I knew India. 128 00:09:10,106 --> 00:09:13,908 So we take off from Denver on our flight. 129 00:09:13,908 --> 00:09:17,040 And when we took off, we started having problems. 130 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:18,861 Like the flight was canceled. 131 00:09:18,861 --> 00:09:21,263 We didn't know if we were going to hit our flight in Newark. 132 00:09:21,263 --> 00:09:22,483 It was just a mess. 133 00:09:22,483 --> 00:09:24,504 was typical travel stuff, right? 134 00:09:24,504 --> 00:09:28,386 That I'm normally very well versed in, but now I have this kid with me. 135 00:09:28,507 --> 00:09:31,128 So I was stressed and I was stressed for her. 136 00:09:31,268 --> 00:09:34,020 Eventually running to gates and all that stuff. 137 00:09:34,020 --> 00:09:37,908 We get on our flight from Newark to Delhi. 138 00:09:37,908 --> 00:09:47,288 And I think it had been such a long day just trying to get to that point and not knowing if we were gonna make it, that when we got on the flight, I had a couple of glasses of 139 00:09:47,288 --> 00:09:51,608 wine because I'm like, I'm exhausted, I need to calm down. 140 00:09:51,608 --> 00:10:02,708 And the other thing to note on this particular flight was since this was her first overseas flight ever, I let her sit by the window and I sat in the middle seat, which I 141 00:10:02,708 --> 00:10:05,524 never do because I'm someone that likes to get up. 142 00:10:05,524 --> 00:10:07,244 whenever I wanna get up and go to the bathroom. 143 00:10:07,244 --> 00:10:09,664 So I always choose an ILC. 144 00:10:09,684 --> 00:10:14,484 So we get on this flight, it was like a 14 hour, 13 hour, 14 hour flight. 145 00:10:14,484 --> 00:10:24,764 I have a couple of glasses of wine, proceed to fall asleep hard, which I also never normally do on a flight, but just hard, she was out. 146 00:10:24,804 --> 00:10:26,304 And I didn't think about it. 147 00:10:26,304 --> 00:10:27,784 I felt like, oh, this is great. 148 00:10:27,784 --> 00:10:29,604 I slept like five or six hours. 149 00:10:29,604 --> 00:10:30,504 It was super. 150 00:10:30,504 --> 00:10:34,738 I never got up because I didn't wanna bother the person next to me. 151 00:10:34,738 --> 00:10:35,418 And that was that. 152 00:10:35,418 --> 00:10:40,272 We

arrived in Delhi and off we were on our two weeks of travel in India. 153 00:10:40,272 --> 00:10:45,395 And probably a day or two later is when I first noticed the first symptom. 154 00:10:45,476 --> 00:10:47,417 Didn't obviously realize it was a symptom. 155 00:10:47,417 --> 00:10:49,839 I was completely novice to this. 156 00:10:49,839 --> 00:10:51,928 And it was my calf hurt. 157 00:10:51,928 --> 00:10:53,041 That was it. 158 00:10:53,041 --> 00:10:54,302 My calf was sore. 159 00:10:54,302 --> 00:10:57,594 And I figured, okay, there's a million reasons why this could be. 160 00:10:57,594 --> 00:11:00,046 I'm dehydrated from traveling. 161 00:11:00,046 --> 00:11:01,377 It's really hot. 162 00:11:01,377 --> 00:11:03,540 It was like August in Delhi. 163 00:11:03,540 --> 00:11:11,960 and I'm on jet lag, so I had wrapped it up to, need more water and I need time, you know, I just need to get through this. 164 00:11:12,000 --> 00:11:21,040 So we take off on our two week tour with a group of people, it was a small group tour and the pain in my leg just wasn't going away. 165 00:11:21,040 --> 00:11:25,760 But I do a lot of active stuff and I just figured it was a sore muscle, no big deal. 166 00:11:25,760 --> 00:11:33,548 In fact, I even got a massage because I thought this muscle in my leg is tight, so let's try to work that out. 167 00:11:33,650 --> 00:11:34,821 And we went on. 168 00:11:34,821 --> 00:11:40,223 No other big symptoms until sometime maybe a week later. 169 00:11:40,424 --> 00:11:43,936 I noticed that I was laughing with the group. 170 00:11:43,936 --> 00:11:46,147 We were saying something and I was laughing. 171 00:11:46,147 --> 00:11:51,510 And I noticed when I was laughing that I had this little like pain in my chest. 172 00:11:51,510 --> 00:11:56,313 And it kind of felt like a stitch or like just a little slight pain. 173 00:11:56,313 --> 00:11:58,834 Like I had a little trouble breathing or something. 174 00:11:58,834 --> 00:12:00,335 And I'm like, ooh, that's weird. 175 00:12:00,335 --> 00:12:01,596 And didn't think about it. 176 00:12:01,596 --> 00:12:02,236 But. 177 00:12:02,236 --> 00:12:11,002 As I continued through the trip, laughing, doing stuff, I noticed this more often, like this little pain when I would take a deep breath. 178 00:12:11,002 --> 00:12:15,625 At the same time, I was starting to develop what I call an unproductive cough. 179 00:12:15,625 --> 00:12:17,106 I would cough at night. 180 00:12:17,106 --> 00:12:19,017 I wasn't sick, but a cough. 181 00:12:19,017 --> 00:12:21,309 I chalked that up to bronchitis. 182 00:12:21,309 --> 00:12:26,172 I just figured I was on my way to bronchitis and that's what this cough was about. 183 00:12:26,172 --> 00:12:30,595 So all of that, and I'm also starting to have more trouble sleeping. 184 00:12:30,595 --> 00:12:31,806 So when I'm sleeping, 185 00:12:31,806 --> 00:12:35,698 When I'm laying down, I have pain in my chest and it's, can't get comfortable. 186 00:12:35,698 --> 00:12:37,278 I really didn't think twice about it. 187 00:12:37,278 --> 00:12:44,141 Like the not being able to sleep thing was a little bit weird to me, but the cough and everything else, like I said, whatever. 188 00:12:44,781 --> 00:12:52,655 So we finished our trip and we get back on the plane to fly back to Newark and then to Denver and don't think about anything. 189 00:12:52,655 --> 00:12:56,506 I'm not feeling great, but I'm not bad. 190 00:12:56,546 --> 00:12:58,167 The long flight was fine. 191 00:12:58,167 --> 00:13:01,528 And then I remember when we were landing in Denver. 192 00:13:01,701 --> 00:13:06,274 As we were coming down for landing, I felt really sick. 193 00:13:06,274 --> 00:13:08,615 Like, I was just out of sorts. 194 00:13:08,615 --> 00:13:10,096 I thought I was gonna throw up. 195 00:13:10,096 --> 00:13:12,898 Like, it was really weird, because it kind of came out of nowhere. 196 00:13:12,898 --> 00:13:14,799 Looking back, I kind of understand it. 197 00:13:14,799 --> 00:13:16,710 But I just thought it was really weird. 198 00:13:16,710 --> 00:13:18,441 But somehow I held it together. 199 00:13:18,441 --> 00:13:20,862 And we land. 200 00:13:20,942 --> 00:13:24,104 I get my niece back on a train to Nebraska. 201 00:13:24,104 --> 00:13:25,355 And now I'm alone. 202 00:13:25,355 --> 00:13:26,626 Trip is done. 203 00:13:26,626 --> 00:13:27,606 I'm home. 204 00:13:27,606 --> 00:13:29,568 And I think I have bronchitis. 205 00:13:29,568 --> 00:13:30,622 And I just... 206 00:13:30,622 --> 00:13:32,293 hope that it gets better kind of thing. 207 00:13:32,293 --> 00:13:37,798 However, about a day or two later, I was really having trouble sleeping. 208 00:13:37,798 --> 00:13:41,401 I had so much pain in my chest sleeping and had this cough. 209 00:13:41,401 --> 00:13:49,608 So I decided it was Friday and I remember thinking, you know, I probably really need antibiotics before this weekend. 210 00:13:49,608 --> 00:13:57,714 So let me try to get into a doctor because I know this is bronchitis or, you know, something with the pollution and I can't sleep. 211 00:13:57,714 --> 00:13:59,836 So I call my 212 00:13:59,836 --> 00:14:04,921 insurance company, the appointment line, and I try to get in to see my primary care physician. 213 00:14:04,921 --> 00:14:07,042 And of course, you can't do that. 214 00:14:07,042 --> 00:14:08,920 It's like, you could see her in three weeks. 215 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,726 I'm like, nope, I need medication now. 216 00:14:11,726 --> 00:14:15,269 And so they said, well, let me put you on with a nurse. 217 00:14:15,269 --> 00:14:17,651 So they put me on with the teloners. 218 00:14:17,651 --> 00:14:20,225 I'm telling her everything that's gone on. 219 00:14:20,225 --> 00:14:27,880 But at that point, I just basically tell her that I can't sleep, that I just got back from India and that I have this pain in my chest. 220 00:14:27,922 -->

00:14:32,074 and I think it's bronchitis, I've had bronchitis before, and I just want to get an antibiotic. 221 00:14:32,074 --> 00:14:38,818 And she says, well, maybe that could be, but let me have you talk to a doctor on the phone. 222 00:14:38,818 --> 00:14:40,659 And I'm like, okay, whatever. 223 00:14:40,872 --> 00:14:43,281 I just want my drugs, that's all I want. 224 00:14:43,541 --> 00:14:52,496 And so they put me on with this doctor and she's like, I understand that you just came back on a flight from India, et cetera, and you have these symptoms. 225 00:14:52,496 --> 00:14:55,668 And she's like, I would like you to come into urgent care. 226 00:14:55,668 --> 00:14:58,648 right now because I think you may have a blood clot. 227 00:14:58,728 --> 00:15:03,588 And that was the first time I had ever even considered that. 228 00:15:03,628 --> 00:15:06,868 And I'm like, no, I don't have a blood clot. 229 00:15:06,868 --> 00:15:08,248 I travel all the time. 230 00:15:08,248 --> 00:15:10,108 I'm young, I'm in shape. 231 00:15:10,108 --> 00:15:14,108 At that time I would have been probably like 47, 48, healthy. 232 00:15:14,108 --> 00:15:17,048 And I'm like, no, I don't think it's that. 233 00:15:17,048 --> 00:15:18,428 And she's like, well. 234 00:15:18,428 --> 00:15:19,358 you know, it can't hurt. 235 00:15:19,358 --> 00:15:21,760 We would just come in, we would run a few tests, et cetera. 236 00:15:21,760 --> 00:15:25,153 Well, that night I also had a event that I was supposed to be going to. 237 00:15:25,153 --> 00:15:27,314 And I said, you know, I have this thing tonight. 238 00:15:27,314 --> 00:15:29,176 So I said, can I just come in tomorrow? 239 00:15:29,176 --> 00:15:30,577 And she's like, well, you could. 240 00:15:30,577 --> 00:15:33,759 She's like, but I'd really be happier if you came in now. 241 00:15:33,759 --> 00:15:35,680 Let me check the urgent care lines. 242 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:40,564 And she got on her computer and she's like, look, there's no line in Aurora. 243 00:15:40,564 --> 00:15:42,765 Why don't you just go in, check it out. 244 00:15:42,765 --> 00:15:43,956 We run the quick test. 245 00:15:43,956 --> 00:15:47,088 You know, here are the two tests that we do, the D-dimer or whatever. 246 00:15:47,150 --> 00:15:49,120 and then you can go on to your event. 247 00:15:49,120 --> 00:15:51,080 I'm like, okay, fine. 248 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:52,802 I was really annoyed. 249 00:15:52,802 --> 00:15:57,723 And at the time also, I didn't have a car, so I had to Uber out there. 250 00:15:57,723 --> 00:16:04,165 And at that time, I was also always trying to save money with Uber, so I took an Uber carpool. 251 00:16:05,225 --> 00:16:07,546 So I was in no hurry, clearly. 252 00:16:07,826 --> 00:16:10,607 And so I take this Uber pool and they've got to drive me way out. 253 00:16:10,607 --> 00:16:13,598 It was probably about a 20 minute drive out to that urgent care. 254 00:16:13,598 --> 00:16:14,386 And then... 255 00:16:14,386 --> 00:16:19,420 The Uber pool, because they don't have to let you off right at the door, they can let you off nearby and then you walk. 256 00:16:19,420 --> 00:16:20,901 He had to leave me off. 257 00:16:20,901 --> 00:16:26,765 And then I had to walk like another, I don't know, quarter mile to the urgent care. 258 00:16:26,765 --> 00:16:31,768 And at that point I was feeling bad, like really bad. 259 00:16:31,768 --> 00:16:35,331 I remember thinking, oh yeah, it's probably really good that I am going. 260 00:16:35,331 --> 00:16:38,473 So I go, they do the D-dimer, of course it comes back. 261 00:16:38,473 --> 00:16:41,715 And then they're like, we need to do a CT scan. 262 00:16:41,715 --> 00:16:43,616 And they came back. 263 00:16:43,792 --> 00:16:50,216 And that's when I found out that they're like, you've got three pulmonary embolisms in your left lung. 264 00:16:50,237 --> 00:16:52,958 And I'm like, holy shit. 265 00:16:52,958 --> 00:16:56,070 And then it was just like, everything started happening then, right? 266 00:16:56,070 --> 00:16:58,742 Because immediately they had me on blood thinners. 267 00:16:58,742 --> 00:17:02,705 had like, it was just, then it became really serious. 268 00:17:02,705 --> 00:17:06,107 Even though, quite frankly, the risk was earlier. 269 00:17:06,207 --> 00:17:08,068 But I was just very lucky. 270 00:17:08,852 --> 00:17:16,512 In some ways it was being expressed to me by all the actions because they were like in emergency mode and I was just stunned. 271 00:17:16,572 --> 00:17:23,592 But yet I still remember what are the first things I asked, you know, and they're telling me, you know, they're going to put me on this and this and I have to give myself a shot 272 00:17:23,592 --> 00:17:24,612 and all this stuff. 273 00:17:24,612 --> 00:17:29,252 And we're going to set you up with an appointment with a coagulation specialist or whatever. 274 00:17:29,252 --> 00:17:31,552 And I'm like, I didn't even know there was such a thing. 275 00:17:31,552 --> 00:17:35,392 And one of the first questions I asked, can I still travel? 276 00:17:36,452 --> 00:17:38,568 I mean, and I should. 277 00:17:38,568 --> 00:17:44,593 back up a teeny bit because I was aware of blood clots from flying. 278 00:17:44,593 --> 00:17:46,094 I had never had it myself. 279 00:17:46,094 --> 00:17:55,135 However, probably seven years before this, my sister also had a blood clot from a long distance flight from Singapore. 280 00:17:55,135 --> 00:18:06,271 She was an expat in Singapore and she was flying back to the US and she got all the way home and when her clot broke loose and went up into her lungs or whatever, she actually 281 00:18:06,271 --> 00:18:07,920 passed out on the floor. 282 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:09,141 and recovered. 283 00:18:09,141 --> 00:18:13,682 So that was the first time I'd ever heard of such a thing. 284 00:18:13,682 --> 00:18:21,906 So I did have this

weird past history that never came up to me until they said, we found three pulmonary embolisms in your lungs. 285 00:18:21,906 --> 00:18:27,494 And I'm just like, So I knew what my sister had gone through. 286 00:18:27,494 --> 00:18:29,419 I knew that she was on warfarin. 287 00:18:29,419 --> 00:18:32,130 knew, you know, because it was a big, big deal. 288 00:18:32,130 --> 00:18:35,962 So immediately, I think in my head when they were telling me all this stuff, they were going to put me on. 289 00:18:35,962 --> 00:18:37,138 And I was just like, 290 00:18:37,138 --> 00:18:41,171 I knew what she went through having to go back to the hospital or all the time and have the blood tests. 291 00:18:41,171 --> 00:18:43,453 And that's why I'm like, can I still travel? 292 00:18:43,814 --> 00:18:46,796 So they said, yeah, but not right away. 293 00:18:46,796 --> 00:18:48,638 Let's just get this under control. 294 00:18:48,638 --> 00:18:55,703 I don't think I fully understood how lucky I was until I started researching it more when I got home. 295 00:18:55,703 --> 00:18:57,065 They didn't keep me overnight. 296 00:18:57,065 --> 00:19:00,507 They did let me go home with all the drugs and so on. 297 00:19:00,548 --> 00:19:06,152 And when I started actually posting it out on my social media and stuff of what had happened, 298 00:19:06,152 --> 00:19:15,235 Then I started hearing from all these people about people they knew that had perished, other people that had had them and had close calls and all this. 299 00:19:15,235 --> 00:19:17,285 And it just like came out of the woodwork. 300 00:19:17,285 --> 00:19:18,936 It was just crazy. 301 00:19:18,936 --> 00:19:29,878 I often wish that I knew who that doctor was because I do credit her and the nurse who was on the tele line for saving my life, honestly. 302 00:19:29,959 --> 00:19:35,102 She urged me to go in and she did everything she could to get me to go in. 303 00:19:35,102 --> 00:19:36,012 was pretty amazing. 304 00:19:36,012 --> 00:19:39,937 also always have people ask me, they're like, were you scared? 305 00:19:39,937 --> 00:19:44,581 And I'm like, no, because I didn't know I had anything wrong really. 306 00:19:44,581 --> 00:19:50,176 And so by the time I found out, there wasn't as much to be scared about, right? 307 00:19:50,176 --> 00:19:53,388 Because then they can start to get it all under control. 308 00:19:54,330 --> 00:19:56,948 One of the hard things about being a travel blogger and being 309 00:19:56,948 --> 00:20:05,220 content creator, whatever, is that you're kind of operating in your own little world and you don't always know who's following you because there's a huge percentage of people that 310 00:20:05,220 --> 00:20:07,611 never speak up that just follow what you do. 311 00:20:07,611 --> 00:20:15,353 And I think this brought people out of the woodwork in a way, because all of a sudden they could be like, oh, this could happen to me. 312 00:20:15,353 --> 00:20:25,318 And so what happened in the years following as I always talk about this was that I was hearing from people just kind of randomly about like, 313 00:20:25,318 --> 00:20:29,050 I now travel with compression socks because of your story. 314 00:20:29,050 --> 00:20:31,449 That's probably primarily what I heard. 315 00:20:31,449 --> 00:20:41,697 You people who had never considered compression socks because compression socks, as I did too, I associate them with being an old woman, basically. 316 00:20:43,058 --> 00:20:44,799 I mean, that was it. 317 00:20:44,799 --> 00:20:49,832 And so, you know, I just had never even considered wearing compression socks before. 318 00:20:49,832 --> 00:20:54,388 And so just even educating people about that and how to 319 00:20:54,388 --> 00:20:56,928 deal with long distance flights was huge. 320 00:20:56,928 --> 00:21:03,948 And I think everyone now, you know, I hear from so many people now that have changed the way that they do flights. 321 00:21:03,948 --> 00:21:08,468 And I always tell people anything to, I mean, you should wear them all the time. 322 00:21:08,468 --> 00:21:18,268 They're easy, they're cute, they're nice now, but anything over two hours, you need to be on compression socks and doing kind of the protocol of getting up and walking around, 323 00:21:18,268 --> 00:21:20,248 drinking water, et cetera, on the plane. 324 00:21:20,248 --> 00:21:23,666 And I think probably more than anything I've ever 325 00:21:23,666 --> 00:21:24,787 done or written about. 326 00:21:24,787 --> 00:21:29,581 Like, yeah, I know that I inspire people to travel and make change in their life and so on. 327 00:21:29,581 --> 00:21:36,766 But this is probably the biggest impact I think I've probably had on my overall audience. 328 00:21:36,827 --> 00:21:38,027 So I'm thankful for that. 329 00:21:38,027 --> 00:21:42,050 And it's it has really energized me, I would say. 330 00:21:43,412 --> 00:21:49,140 It's no secret that as we age, our bodies change, things become a little more difficult. 331 00:21:49,140 --> 00:21:54,120 health becomes more of a concern when maintaining a thriving and robust life. 332 00:21:54,620 --> 00:22:05,340 As we journey further into the lived experience, how do we take into account changes and shifts in our body's natural processes specifically when it comes to blood clot awareness? 333 00:22:05,600 --> 00:22:13,820 Here to discuss age as a contributing factor and the variations in treatment for blood clots associated with age, this is Dr. 334 00:22:13,820 --> 00:22:15,000 Jeffrey Klein. 335 00:22:15,980 --> 00:22:18,524 You know, we weren't designed to be 100 years old. 336 00:22:18,524 --> 00:22:21,767 and uh we are more clotty the older we get. 337 00:22:21,767 --> 00:22:33,717 Although there is a diagnosis curve that trails off after age 80 because people stopped looking for the blood clots after age 80 because they probably, you the doctors are 338 00:22:33,717 -->

00:22:39,261 thinking, wow, if I diagnose a blood clot, means blood thinners and that's going to be bad news for this individual. 339 00:22:39,261 --> 00:22:47,442 So the diagnosis rate trails off, but the probable actual incidence rate increases linearly or maybe even 340 00:22:47,442 --> 00:22:49,713 more than linearly throughout life. 341 00:22:49,713 --> 00:22:57,938 I trained emergency medicine residents and uh you could not get one of them to order a D-dimer on an 85 year old. 342 00:22:57,938 --> 00:23:02,520 They wouldn't do it because that's what they believe or are implicitly taught. 343 00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:11,485 And, you know, of course it depends on the 85 year old, but some people would clearly benefit from being diagnosed by their blood clot with their blood clot and being put on an 344 00:23:11,485 --> 00:23:12,586 anticoagulant. 345 00:23:12,586 --> 00:23:16,948 There are some that it would cause more harm than good, but 346 00:23:16,948 --> 00:23:21,909 It's almost like a personal or being careful, ethical decision. 347 00:23:21,909 --> 00:23:30,432 And also talking to the family, talking to the patient to the best you can, case that unless they're living with dementia, about what their wishes would be. 348 00:23:30,432 --> 00:23:31,732 What if I found this blood clot? 349 00:23:31,732 --> 00:23:35,153 Would you want to take a medicine the rest of your life that can cause bleeding? 350 00:23:35,153 --> 00:23:41,355 These are patient oriented questions that are easy to ask, but also easy to forget. 351 00:23:42,568 --> 00:23:45,816 I present you with shortness of breath like I couldn't breathe. 352 00:23:46,152 --> 00:23:49,614 Hard to explain to people because you say, I had a hard time breathing. 353 00:23:49,614 --> 00:23:52,335 Not like you're working out, labored kind of thing. 354 00:23:52,335 --> 00:23:55,096 This was like, literally, I can't breathe. 355 00:23:55,096 --> 00:23:56,572 I never had a D-dimer. 356 00:23:56,572 --> 00:24:01,879 I never had anything to be checked in my blood, my protein level, nothing like that. 357 00:24:01,879 --> 00:24:12,424 So I have to tell you, our overwhelming demographic of people coming to NBCA are women in our age group by a factor of like four. 358 00:24:12,788 --> 00:24:17,330 And so many women want to travel and they're afraid to do it now. 359 00:24:17,631 --> 00:24:29,007 So talk to us about, because I'm curious to hear your experience versus in my head, my first experience, your first experience with not just getting on a plane and traveling in 360 00:24:29,007 --> 00:24:30,638 the US, but long haul travel. 361 00:24:30,638 --> 00:24:33,039 What was that like for you mentally to do that? 362 00:24:33,039 --> 00:24:41,404 And then take the opportunity, send them a message, what they can learn from this and be proactive, but don't be afraid. 363 00:24:41,404 --> 00:24:42,182 Yeah. 364 00:24:42,182 --> 00:24:46,963 And it also just kind of reminded me

of how many people contact me. 365 00:24:46,963 --> 00:24:53,925 I get this happening all the time about I'll get an email or a message, whatever, that's like, what are the symptoms again? 366 00:24:53,925 --> 00:24:55,226 What does it feel like in your legs? 367 00:24:55,226 --> 00:25:04,818 Because someone knows enough and they flew somewhere and they got off and they have a sore leg and then they panic, they remember my story. 368 00:25:04,818 --> 00:25:07,349 So anyway, that was just another thing. 369 00:25:07,349 --> 00:25:11,016 But the first time I flew, whoo. 370 00:25:11,048 --> 00:25:15,629 Well, I think, you know, the other big thing, let me back up because it's not just flying. 371 00:25:15,649 --> 00:25:23,371 The other big surprise to me, in addition to the whole birth control thing or the estrogen thing, was that it's not flying. 372 00:25:23,371 --> 00:25:26,152 It's not has nothing to do with the altitude necessary. 373 00:25:26,152 --> 00:25:30,953 It's the setting for these long, long periods. 374 00:25:31,094 --> 00:25:34,028 And so that means road trips that I've taken. 375 00:25:34,028 --> 00:25:36,935 had to re-examine train trips that I've taken. 376 00:25:36,935 --> 00:25:39,036 had to re-examine that kind of stuff. 377 00:25:39,036 --> 00:25:40,156 And so 378 00:25:40,156 --> 00:25:42,537 It's not just long distance flights. 379 00:25:42,698 --> 00:25:45,620 So that was one thing I also really wanted to educate people on. 380 00:25:45,620 --> 00:25:52,545 But the first time I flew, I was hyperactive as far as like, I'm gonna get up, gonna move my legs all the time. 381 00:25:52,545 --> 00:25:58,939 I'm gonna like, you know, and now I probably set my alarm for like every two hours, but back then it was just like every hour. 382 00:25:58,939 --> 00:26:03,953 And I refused to ever sit in a window seat again or anything but aisle. 383 00:26:03,953 --> 00:26:05,374 That's the other thing. 384 00:26:05,374 --> 00:26:07,284 So that I can get up and move around. 385 00:26:07,284 --> 00:26:07,784 and so on. 386 00:26:07,784 --> 00:26:15,169 And now I'm one of those people that set my alarm so it goes off every two hours, no matter if it's an overnight flight. 387 00:26:15,169 --> 00:26:15,880 That's fine. 388 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:21,924 I'm going to wake up, I'm going to get up, and I'm going to walk around doing stretching and marching in place. 389 00:26:21,924 --> 00:26:30,719 I'm one of those annoying people that's by the, where the flight attendants are and all the drinks and so on, I'm sitting there marching in place. 390 00:26:32,821 --> 00:26:37,264 But I've changed the way that I fly, even like I said, anything over two 391 00:26:37,765 --> 00:26:46,412 So that's big because I do worry about it still even though you know I'm not on blood thinners anymore they took me off and they determined that they felt like it was just 392 00:26:46,412 --> 00:26:58,252 because of that flight but I'm super aware when I fly now so much so that I actually like lots of times there'll be a woman sitting next to me or something and she's not getting up 393 00:26:58,252 --> 00:27:05,268 and walking around and I'll kind of just be like hey it's a good idea if you get up and walk around. 394 00:27:05,680 --> 00:27:06,530 Absolutely. 395 00:27:06,530 --> 00:27:08,251 I do the exact same they just don't know. 396 00:27:08,251 --> 00:27:09,091 They don't know. 397 00:27:09,091 --> 00:27:10,122 They don't know. 398 00:27:10,122 --> 00:27:12,383 And a little prevention goes a very, long way. 399 00:27:12,383 --> 00:27:13,283 Yeah. 400 00:27:13,283 --> 00:27:22,527 And once you know the symptoms, you know, once you can educate people, then it does change your risk a lot because you can get ahead of it. 401 00:27:22,527 --> 00:27:23,127 It's fine. 402 00:27:23,127 --> 00:27:29,870 So there have been a couple of times since where I've flown and got somewhere. 403 00:27:29,870 --> 00:27:32,341 And in fact, this just happened two years ago. 404 00:27:32,341 --> 00:27:33,611 I was in Ireland. 405 00:27:33,611 --> 00:27:35,312 And even though I been 406 00:27:35,312 --> 00:27:38,595 already there for a week, my legs started hurting. 407 00:27:38,595 --> 00:27:41,017 And I thought, that's weird. 408 00:27:41,017 --> 00:27:45,460 And so I decided it was smart to go in and have it looked at. 409 00:27:45,460 --> 00:27:50,904 So I went and spent a whole day in an emergency room in Tralee, Ireland. 410 00:27:51,125 --> 00:27:56,509 And once you tell them, too, you had a history of it, they treat it very seriously. 411 00:27:56,589 --> 00:28:00,212 And so I waited all day, got a D-dimer, came back fine. 412 00:28:00,212 --> 00:28:02,875 But like, so now I just, don't risk anything. 413 00:28:02,875 --> 00:28:05,056 The minute I might have 414 00:28:05,094 --> 00:28:08,685 one of those symptoms, I'm just gonna go in and have it looked at. 415 00:28:08,866 --> 00:28:13,698 Which is what I try to tell people too, like your calf hurts, well, how does it hurt? 416 00:28:13,698 --> 00:28:15,709 Is it a continual ache? 417 00:28:15,709 --> 00:28:17,327 That's what I get a lot of questions about. 418 00:28:17,327 --> 00:28:19,771 They're like, well, what exactly did it feel like? 419 00:28:19,771 --> 00:28:24,493 And it's like, I just remember it felt like I had to stretch out my calf, like it was tight. 420 00:28:24,753 --> 00:28:28,134 But to be safe, always have travel insurance. 421 00:28:29,115 --> 00:28:31,068 And go in and just get it checked. 422 00:28:31,068 --> 00:28:31,689 It's worth it. 423 00:28:31,689 --> 00:28:34,781 when you travel long haul now, you don't take an anticoagulant. 424 00:28:34,781 --> 00:28:36,272 Do they have you take anything? 425 00:28:36,272 --> 00:28:36,772 No. 426 00:28:36,772 --> 00:28:39,104 Now I take a baby aspirin every day. 427 00:28:39,104 --> 00:28:40,075 Right. 428 00:28:40,075 --> 00:28:45,058

But that's the only thing that I still do medically, I would say. 429 00:28:45,058 --> 00:28:51,223 All the other preventative stuff is the compression socks, the hydrating, et cetera, and getting up and walking. 430 00:28:51,223 --> 00:28:56,786 The amazing fact is that your sister also had a blood clot from long haul travel. 431 00:28:57,487 --> 00:28:58,067 I know. 432 00:28:58,067 --> 00:28:59,284 And hers ended up. 433 00:28:59,284 --> 00:29:04,304 even more serious because she ended up in the emergency room because she, you know, she passed out. 434 00:29:04,304 --> 00:29:10,824 But it was weird because then once I told the specialists that too, I'm like, Hey, this happened to my sister. 435 00:29:10,824 --> 00:29:17,604 Of course, I'm thinking this is hereditary, but they ruled it that it wasn't hereditary, that I wasn't at a higher risk. 436 00:29:17,604 --> 00:29:23,164 So yeah, I'm still wondering about that a little bit because it's very odd that two of us would go through that. 437 00:29:23,164 --> 00:29:25,044 they test you both? 438 00:29:25,044 --> 00:29:26,684 They tested my sister. 439 00:29:26,684 --> 00:29:30,165 And hers came back negative, so they didn't bother testing me. 440 00:29:30,165 --> 00:29:30,564 I don't know. 441 00:29:30,564 --> 00:29:32,186 I spent so much time around this. 442 00:29:32,186 --> 00:29:39,247 You know, I always hear the family history is one of the biggest flags, you know, of all and just making sure you do get tested because it's so easy. 443 00:29:39,247 --> 00:29:39,968 It's a blood test. 444 00:29:39,968 --> 00:29:44,089 You know, when they do the D-dimer, they could have taken the test or taken the blood to do that as well. 445 00:29:44,089 --> 00:29:45,559 It's worth it just to see. 446 00:29:45,559 --> 00:29:49,250 And now they're more advanced in terms of being able to identify things. 447 00:29:49,250 --> 00:29:56,532 And I'm unprovoked, so I don't know why I got the blood clot, um which was a hard, hard thing to, you know, I'm a uh 448 00:29:56,532 --> 00:29:57,852 finance person by training. 449 00:29:57,852 --> 00:30:00,872 I'm very analytical and I'm like, what do mean one plus one equals three? 450 00:30:00,872 --> 00:30:02,372 Like that doesn't work for me. 451 00:30:02,372 --> 00:30:04,432 That was very, that was very difficult. 452 00:30:04,432 --> 00:30:08,172 But it's worth getting the test just to see if you have anything. 453 00:30:08,272 --> 00:30:14,972 know, aspirin is great for stroke prevention, but it really doesn't do much for DVT or PE. 454 00:30:14,972 --> 00:30:22,112 So one of the things that you could discuss with them is, is maybe going in an anticoagulant when you're just doing the long haul flight to make sure you're 100 % 455 00:30:22,112 --> 00:30:23,092 protected. 456 00:30:23,592 --> 00:30:32,560 But I think your experience and I want to go to Panama next year and do the uh surfing and I sent it to four of my friends and they're like, let's all go. 457 00:30:32,560 --> 00:30:33,952 This is so cool. 458 00:30:33,952 --> 00:30:40,427 So I think we need to organize some of like some event for blood clot women that want to travel and do something cool. 459 00:30:40,427 --> 00:30:46,813 I really want you to just to share with people that and in particular women, you can get your life back together. 460 00:30:46,813 --> 00:30:50,674 And it is about managing risks and having the information and being aware. 461 00:30:50,674 --> 00:30:55,146 don't stop living, don't stop traveling, you can participate in these activities. 462 00:30:55,146 --> 00:30:56,707 Yes, absolutely. 463 00:30:56,707 --> 00:31:01,148 It's easy to do the stuff, the preventative tasks. 464 00:31:01,148 --> 00:31:02,269 It's easy. 465 00:31:02,269 --> 00:31:05,970 And that will, in most cases, protect you. 466 00:31:05,970 --> 00:31:08,251 And also to educate yourself. 467 00:31:08,251 --> 00:31:12,553 Like I said, the stuff with the birth control, like had no idea. 468 00:31:12,553 --> 00:31:14,584 But to educate yourself on stuff like that. 469 00:31:14,584 --> 00:31:19,756 So if you know that you're at a higher risk because you're taking birth control. 470 00:31:19,794 --> 00:31:22,567 then definitely get up and do the preventative stuff. 471 00:31:22,567 --> 00:31:24,709 Like be ultra aware. 472 00:31:24,709 --> 00:31:28,292 But it doesn't mean you can't travel, not at all. 473 00:31:28,313 --> 00:31:30,725 And that's why I brought up the train and the car. 474 00:31:30,725 --> 00:31:39,724 I mean, I think about how many times I've been on a long car ride where I haven't stopped for like five hours or six hours. 475 00:31:39,724 --> 00:31:40,985 You're at risk here too. 476 00:31:40,985 --> 00:31:43,948 It's not just long haul flights. 477 00:31:44,134 --> 00:31:47,737 And the older you get, the higher the risk level as well from doing these things. 478 00:31:47,737 --> 00:31:50,069 But again, they're very, very manageable. 479 00:31:50,069 --> 00:31:51,470 Your story is amazing. 480 00:31:51,470 --> 00:31:52,801 I'm so thankful you're okay. 481 00:31:52,801 --> 00:32:01,558 But I mean, my God, the intervention of the nurse and the doctor and all these things coming together and then having this platform to share with people so they do understand 482 00:32:01,558 --> 00:32:02,900 the signs and symptoms. 483 00:32:02,900 --> 00:32:05,682 Sherry, March is Blood Clot Awareness Month. 484 00:32:05,682 --> 00:32:11,287 And you probably know this, but there's no federal funding for blood clot education and awareness. 485 00:32:11,287 --> 00:32:13,234 so National Blood Clot Alliance 486 00:32:13,234 --> 00:32:16,406 really tries to use the month to raise awareness for the public. 487 00:32:16,406 --> 00:32:24,531 And so we would love to have you as an ambassador for the month to share information about signs and symptoms and really get the word out. 488 00:32:24,531 --> 00:32:31,164 So I'm going to reach back out to you again to see if we can get you more engaged so that we can reach people and share that information. 489 00:32:31,164 --> 00:32:35,844 And it is the biggest month of the year for us in terms of an awareness initiative. 490 00:32:35,844 --> 00:32:37,344 Oh, I would love that. 491 00:32:37,344 --> 00:32:38,840 That would be awesome. 492 00:32:39,944 --> 00:32:44,305 Thank you for joining us on another episode of Taking a Breath. 493 00:32:44,365 --> 00:32:47,986 We want to thank Sherry for sharing her story with us today. 494 00:32:48,044 --> 00:32:49,587 A special thank you to Dr. 495 00:32:49,587 --> 00:32:53,087 Jeffrey Klein for his insight and expertise. 496 00:32:53,248 --> 00:33:00,029 For more information on risk prevention and community, please visit StopTheClaw.org. 497 00:33:00,090 --> 00:33:09,542 And if you wish to aid in our efforts of blood clot awareness, please consider donating to our cause at StopTheClaw.org forward slash donate. 498 00:33:10,034 --> 00:33:13,231 We know the patient because we are the patient. 499 00:33:13,231 --> 00:33:17,578 Together with listeners like you, can collectively stop the clot. 500 00:33:18,742 --> 00:33:22,147 For more information, visit stoptheclot.org. 501 00:33:24,046 --> 00:33:26,987 Another Everything Podcast production. 502 00:33:28,368 --> 00:33:33,110 Visit everythingpodcast.com, a division of Patterson Media. 503 00:33:33,110 --> 00:33:35,751 Subscribe wherever you get your podcast.