Swollen, throbbing, and pale purple, Beatrice's left leg looked less like a limb and more like an oversized, striated eggplant.* But her breathing — or lack thereof — is what caught my attention first. Beatrice was suffering from deep vein thrombosis, a condition that occurs when blood flowing through veins in the calf and thigh unexpectedly clots and obstructs the flow of blood to the rest of the body.