Littleton -- Lori Collins is a mother of two who prides herself in being very active.

"In the winter I snowski, snowshoe, snow mobile. In the summer, almost every weekend I water ski, wakeboard, we four-wheel," said Collins.

You can imagine her surprise when all of a sudden she felt tightness in her left leg and thigh after helping a friend move furniture. At first, she thought it was a strain.

"I measured it, it was like four and half inches bigger than my right leg. It was discolored, like a reddish color," said Collins.

That strain turned out to be a blood clot caused by a fairly common problem in women, a collapsed vein. deep vein thrombosis is a blood disorder resulting from the formation of a blood clot. It's usually inside a deep vein of the leg. The symptoms of a blood clot can be quite painful.

"Your leg is swollen so quickly and so much, it felt like my skin was going to split open," said Collins.

"Lori had a blockage in her pelvis up high and it caused her to clot her entire leg," said Dr. Brook Spencer at Littleton Adventist Hospital.

Dr. Spencer said in Lori's case, she needed more than just blood thinners. That's when she decided to use the Trellis DVT treatment system on Lori. Dr. Spencer had to make a small incision in the back of Lori's leg and use a catheter to help remove the blood clot.

"You blow up two balloons at the end, which traps the clot in the vein, so it can't travel to her lungs or anywhere else unsafe. We place a small wire through there, it creates a small motor that creates an egg beater effect. It mixes the blood clot up and breaks it into small pieces," said Dr. Spencer.

The procedure takes about a couple of hours. In most cases, patients can go back to their normal routine within a week.

"With these newer techniques, we've taken away a lot of the risk and the amount of time in the hospital can be as little as overnight," said Dr. Spencer.

"When I got back, for three hours you were suppose to be inactive and you can't get up. By the end of the three hours, my leg was almost back to its normal size," said Collins.

It was also a good thing Collins went to see a doctor immediately.

"She could've died from this condition because she had a massive blood clot in her leg and pelvis which can break free and go to the lungs and kill people," said Dr. Spencer.

Dr. Spencer said since flying long distance can often cause blood clots, you can wear compression hose, while flying. She said taking an asprin before you get on a long flight can help as well.