Second Chances Come With Scars ❤️‍🩹🥑 The Hidden Side Effects of Survival

This photo isn’t just a wound.It’s the truth I carry every day as a woman who’s been on blood thinners for over a decade. It's the price my skin pays for surviving heart valve disease, hospice, and every IV, lab draw, and procedure in between. This raw patch, this fragile skin that tore like wet tissue paper, is just one of many. And it tells a story louder than words sometimes can.

I’m Mary Burrell from Bellingham, WA. A hospice survivor. A heart valve disease advocate. And a walking testament to the miracle of second chances.

But what you don’t always see is what blood thinners like Eliquis (apixaban) do to people like me over time. You see, this skin didn’t always look like paper. But now? One wrong move, one stubborn piece of tape, one routine lab draw—and I’m here, nursing another wound that takes forever to heal.

Let’s talk about what it really looks like to live this life:

🩸 Years of INR checks and bruises from every blood draw (even though Eliquis doesn’t require INR monitoring, many of us started with or cycled through warfarin).

💉 The ache of IV lines that collapsed already tired veins.

💥 Welts that form from pooling blood under skin that’s lost its fight.

🩹 Wounds that peel open just from removing a bandage.

🧻 Coban wraps and silicone dressings that have become my go-to—because paper tape? That’s a guaranteed skin tear.

💧 And something I just recently discovered: Hyaluronic Acid! Yep—been using it just a few days and already noticing a difference. My arms feel softer and smoother, and that crinkly "paper" sound? Practically gone. I had no idea skin could feel this supple again after everything it’s been through.

My go to wound-care lineup 👉🏻this works for my fragile, bruised-up, tape-hating skin.

This isn’t about shock value—it’s about awareness.Many folks on blood thinners—especially older adults or those with chronic conditions—deal with this quietly. It’s not often mentioned in support groups or even by doctors unless you bring it up yourself. But it matters. This stuff affects your quality of life, your mental health, and how confident you feel in your own skin—literally.

This isn’t me complaining. It’s me being real.I’ve learned to survive in a body that doesn't bounce back like it used to. I’ve had to become my own wound care nurse, because sometimes the answers from professionals didn’t fit my day-to-day reality.

**If you're living this life too—dealing with skin that bruises from a breeze or tears from a bandage—you are not alone. You're not “too sensitive.” You’re living in a body that’s doing its best while surviving a system that was never really built with us in mind.

📣 I share this not to shock, but to raise awareness. For patients. For caregivers. For medical staff. And for the advocates like me who live every single day with the unseen consequences of staying alive.

If you’ve lived this—or are living it now—I want to hear from you.💬 What helps? What hurts? What do you wish more people knew?

👇 Drop a comment, or click here to read more of my story.And as always—

This is where we speak from the heart, for the heart. ❤️

#HospiceSurvivor #PatientVoice #BloodThinners #SkinCare #WoundCare #TricuspidValveAwareness #HeartHealthMatters #ListenToPatients #SelfAdvocacy