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Research / A Child’s View of Blood Clots
I am interested to learn how children picture blood clots.
It moved me when 8 year old Jamie said to me that she was sad that her Daddy had a clot, because he couldn't play with her any more, because he always had pain in his stomach. She then drew me a picture of what her Daddy's "clot in the stomach" looked like. She asked: "Can't you just take it out?" In my medical terminology this is a "mesenteric vein thrombosis" and not a clot in the stomach; it's a clot in one of veins in the abdomen draining the intestine, leading to intestinal swelling, pain, and potentially infarction; it is never treated by surgery - one can not just take it out. Jamie's words and picture made me stop. It had never occurred to me to discuss that surgery is not a treatment option; it was so self-understood for me.
Jamie's words and picture reminded me, that medicine is much more than making a correct diagnosis and using accurate terminology. It is about communicating
the findings and the implications to the patient and the patient's family; it is understanding a child's world.
Children suffer when they have a blood clot or when their mommy, daddy, brother or sister has one. I am very interested to see what mental images children have of blood clots - How do they picture blood clots? What do they think clots are? How do they think clots form? How do they explain the symptoms that clots cause?
If you could ask your child to draw a picture of a blood clot and send it to me, I would be very grateful.
My address is:
Stephan Moll, M.D.
CB 7035
University of Chapel Hill School of Medicine
Dept. of Medicine, Heme-Onc
Chapel Hill, NC 27599
Thank you very much,
Stephan Moll