I've been wondering about this too. I have blood clotting conditions too- Factor V Leiden homozygous and Protein C deficiency, I've had clots from it before. I've been cleared to just take baby aspirin because I manage my risk factor through diet, exercise and non-hormonal birth control (sorry, TMI folks). That would ALL change if I ever got pregnant - I'd have to go on daily injections before pregnancy, during and after, for each pregnancy, and possibly step up the anti-coag med treatments. The people who have had DVTs in my family are a mixed bag- some OK'd with aspirin, some with stronger meds if they had a repeat incident due to family history. You're absolutely right that the med treatment can be short or long term.
BUT the new meds like Xarelto really don't leave a ton of bruising, not like the old school heparin/warfarin do. Xarelto was designed because it's so much easier to manage, it doesn't impact diet (you can eat all the leafy greens you want!) and monitoring is usually monthly, not biweekly. If she was on the older of those, because I've heard the NHS doesn't prescribe Xarelto a lot (you know capitalism and healthcare is a free for all in the US!), she'd be at the doctor at minimum every other week getting her INR checked- it's a medication that needs to be in a very narrow therapeutic range, which is why I'm thrilled to be on just baby aspirin.
And no, these meds do NOT cause bony hands. That is absolute complete nonsense. Every person in my family is on them because of family history. Being underweight causes the bony hands and bulging veins, I used to have that too. When I was at my worst with anorexia, you could see bulging veins everywhere, especially after a shower or if I wasn't getting a ton of fluids, it's just a lack of fat. A tan disguises it, but I could never pull that look off, I'm ghostly!
Oh and also meant to say- you're right, they usually call a single DVT or PE (pulmonary embolism) a "clotting event," not a *condition.* It's a condition when there is an underlying thrombophilic issue, like Factor V, or anemia, Protein C or Protein S deficiency, or some other issue with the clotting cascade that causes problems with increased or decreased clotting. A single event isn't a condition.