[Elecraft] OT: Public service announcement (DVT)

Fred Jensen k6dgwnv at gmail.com
Fri May 2 14:54:11 EDT 2025


A couple or three years ago, on one of the "every six months visits" to 
the VA med center, we were done, I was getting up [a slightly more than 
trivial action at advanced ages] and I mentioned to him that I had this 
continuous mild charlie horse in my left calf.  Been there for some 
time.  It really was mild and I wasn't complaining, just mentioned it. 
He typed on the computer and then said ... "Go to ultrasound imaging. Go 
immediately.  Do not pass GO and do not wait for two hundred dollars.  
They'll be expecting you."  I did and they clapped me in the hospital 
and began dripping heparin into me, the clot had relocated to my lungs.  
I seem to have recovered although I still use O2 while sleeping and 
sitting still watching SF Giants games.  The end of every inning is the 
7th inning stretch for me now.

If one is active, I doubt one RT airplane trip would cause a problem but 
I'm a retired engineer, not a doctor.  Sitting at the rig all weekend, 
every weekend working 24 and 48 hour contests certainly could.

73,

Fred ["Skip"] K6DGW - CWops #142
Sparks NV DM09dn
Washoe County

> Wayne Burdick <mailto:n6kr at elecraft.com>
> Friday, May 2, 2025 10:43 AM
> Hi all,
>
> No, DVT is not, in this context, the rate of change of voltage over time.
> But it is about things not changing enough.
>
> I was thinking the other day about how many sequential hours we all spend
> sitting on a cross-country flight. This was on my mind because I have one
> coming up -- to Dayton, Ohio. Then I thought about an article I read
> recently, reminding me how sitting for long periods of time just isn't 
> good
> for human anatomy. They say you need to get up every 20 minutes or so and
> walk around, stretch, feed your pets, get the mail, whatever. Anything but
> sit for hours on end. Pun intended.
>
> Why? DVT...deep-vein thrombosis. (I hear you saying, "WTF?" But in
> fairness, I did put "OT" in the subject line.)
>
> In short, prolonged inactivity can cause DVT and complications thereof.
> I'll spare you the details, as I'm not qualified (just Google it), and 
> I've
> never had it myself. Let's just say the consequences can be scary.
>
> Then I thought of ham radio. At times we're at the inert,
> four-paws-in-the-air, bleeding edge of the bell curve in terms of sitting.
> Not just for hours. For some events it's large fractions of a day.
>
> With renewed awareness I now use nannyware to periodically break me out of
> a techno-trance.
>
> Though avoidance of DVT was never a stated goal for our product offerings,
> it's a happy coincidence that our portable gear gives some of us another
> excuse to get out of our chairs. In hindsight I can see the benefit to our
> customers at trade shows: they're more than their share of ageless,
> timeless, energetic and athletic.
>
> Anything that encourages movement is in this category, of course, from
> high-band HTs to bicycle mobile to climbing your tower.
>
> My advice...keep on truckin'. And thanks for the bandwidth.
>
> 73,
> Wayne
> N6KR
>
>



-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG antivirus software.
www.avg.com


More information about the Elecraft mailing list